Finding Someone
by Selion
Summary: The Lone Wanderer meets Charon in an unexpected way and they head out to explore the wasteland and their pasts. Mostly adventure, a bit of flirting and inappropriate staring, and some sexytimes toward the end. mLW and Charon
1. Underworld and Ahzrukhal

Hello! Any reviews are welcome, and if you find any spelling, grammar, or continuity errors I appreciate any corrections you can send my way. _Any _kind of feedback is great to get. Fallout belongs to Bethesda Softworks.

4-1-13 Small updates here and there. Shortened things that needed it, added a few bits to other areas. Nothing big, just changing parts that were bugging me.

* * *

After a week of traveling, feeling very worn-out and decidedly dusty, Mouse arrived at his destination. Carol's Place, in the far corner of Underworld. He let his legs stretch out, knees and ankles crackling, and turned his attention back to the bowl of noodles in front of him_. I need to learn how to pack my supplies better_, he thought, eating ravenously. Carol tended the restaurant counter nearby and watched his food inhalation with partially concealed amusement.

Mouse had entered the museum proper and promptly went into the wrong door; the giant spot-lit skull door just looked too convenient. There had been a fairly large number of ferals wandering around, and he felt a little sad as he scouted through the area. He supposed it was technically putting them out of their misery, but he still felt bad. If you watched them together without being seen, they sometimes stopped and stared at each other or touched the others' arm. Like they almost remembered what they were missing.

The detour wasn't a total bust though, plenty of expensive junk to pick up. So he'd headed into the real ghoul city, pack stuffed with things to trade, ready for some food and conversation.

His main reason for being there was actually a suggestion from a friend of his in Megaton. Gob worked at the bar there and he and Mouse had got to talking about their families. Underworld was brought up, and Mouse jumped on a chance to visit someplace new. _Right. So, here I am, taking messages cross-state and doing some sightseeing._ Mouse finally noticed Carol trying not to stare at him and was startled into a noodle-filled gust of laughter.

"Sorry! Sorry. I didn't mean to make you do that... you just..." she had jumped at the outburst and now grabbed a towel for his broth-covered arm.

"No, no problem. Didn't mean to lose my manners there, I was starving," he smiled at her, trying to be reassuring. "Sorry." He wiped off his arm and made a conscious effort to eat more slowly. He finished his food and had a quick chat with Carol. He relayed the message from Gob of 'Hey mom I'm doing good' to her and rented a room for the night.

She smiled and waved him on. He picked up his gear and deposited it in the small room, eyeing the bed hungrily. _Almost sleep time; just wanna check out one more place today._ He grabbed his caps and headed for the bar on the other side of the museum.

Both establishments were constructed and lit the same way, but where Carol's place had been cheery and friendly, the Ninth Circle seemed... a little off. The yellow lights looked greasier, the atmosphere coming from the patrons seemed uneasy and dull, and the rooms felt like they were filled with an invisible murk. A radio played on the counter top, GNR, Three Dog shouting about raiders and hiding under beds. A pretty impressive collection of liquor was set up behind the suited ghoul waiting for him to approach.

"Well now, a smoothskin I ain't never seen before. What can Ahzrukhal get you?" He spoke with the signature rasp of all ghouls, but with a strange phlegmy gasp between sentences. His eyes constantly darted around the room, before settling back on Mouse. _Well, he looks incredibly suspicious, but that doesn't always mean much._

"Nice to meet you Ahzrukhal. Name's Mouse. I'd just like a soda and a box of chips if you have any."

"40 caps for that, Mr. Mouse." _Huh, Mister Mouse, sure._ He rustled in the back, collecting the bottle. "What brings you to Underworld anyway?" He peered behind him with that shifty glance again.

"Just adventure, I guess. Looking for loot, places to sell it, and then stuff to spend my caps on," he answered vaguely. A cautious feeling had crept over him after listening to the ghoul speak. This was an odd person and he didn't feel like venturing any information.

Ahzrukhal huffed a laugh at that. "Is that so? Well look no further, I'm happy to take any caps you have." He finished his sentence with a leer.

Mouse took his drink and snack and had a seat at the bar. _Kind of a suspicious way to word that._ He surveyed the room again. The yellow light shone on the glass bottles in the back, the radio was now playing a soft Billy Holliday song, and Ahzrukhal had turned around and was busy cleaning a cup with a dirty rag. There was a wall safe and a terminal behind the bar; standard for most shops and restaurants he'd come across. The ghouls around the bar sat slumped or leaning and the murmur from the adjoining room was quiet and slurred sounding. Then he turned toward the corner.

The tallest ghoul he'd ever seen was standing there like a sentinel. Broad shoulders and chest encased in leather armor, a combat shotgun hung on his back. Hands in leather gloves balling into fists and relaxing again. He exuded an aura of... calm rage. Mouse felt a thrill of alarm as he slowly turned to fix Mouse with a pale blue glare.

The ghoul did nothing but continue to stare back, then raised an eyebrow slightly and slowly turned to face the door again, disinterested with the no apparent threat from Mouse. He stood a head taller than everyone else Mouse had seen lately, save the few super mutants he'd run into on the way. And that feeling of anger emanating from him... tense body, fists clenching, furrowed brow. _Wouldn't want him angry at me,_ he thought, examining the huge frame and powerful-looking hands.

Mouse returned his attention to his drink. He stayed there, lost in thought. Wondering where he'd move on to tomorrow, what new things he would see. He had left Vault 101 about a year ago and arrived in Megaton shortly after. He'd gotten in good with the sheriff after disarming the gigantic nuke situated right in the middle of the town. Mouse wasn't much shakes at electronics, but his father, James, had carefully and patiently taught him the basics of circuitry and computers when he was young. Mouse had had to scrounge up some old books and study them furiously to make sure he knew what to do when messing around inside the deadly bomb. After that he'd had a decent home base to sleep at and store his stuff. Dirty water, sure, but that's how it was all over the wasteland. Maybe the entire world, save the vaults, as far as he knew. Yeah, the vaults. His vault. That day had been a disaster; the vault door had been opened, his father was gone, an infestation of radroaches had swarmed in from somewhere, people had died, and the entire vault had fallen into chaos. He'd made a bad enemy of the Overseer, seemingly just for still being there. The Overseer had held James responsible for the entire thing, and Mouse was the only one left to blame. So he had left, after making sure his friends Amata and Butch, _well, enemy friend, rival... thing,_ were okay and not in any immediate danger. Megaton was thankfully close to the vault. He had made his way there, feelings of anger, betrayal, and confusion pounding in his head.

Being fresh out of the vault, Mouse had little knowledge of how things went in the wastes. He made a fast, and odd, friend of an eccentric lady named Moira Brown, who ran a shop in Megaton. She often seemed slightly insane, but when Mouse came to her with a question, she knew the answer or would try to find out for him. Some of his questions had even prompted her to send him out on little "reconnaissance missions" for her, to gather information for the guidebook she was writing. It was a big help to have someone more or less in the know, and it was nice to just have a friend, someone to talk to. Since leaving the vault he'd felt very alone, no one out here really gave a rats ass about anyone else, they were just trying to concentrate on staying alive. It was rare to find anyone who showed genuine interest in you, so he was happy to help her out and just hang around the shop and talk sometimes.

He passed his time doing many favors and errands for the odd people he met. Finding and shaking down an ex-whore for one guy, salvaging and repairing a dish for radio reception, exploring the site of THE Project Purity his dad had reverently talked about so many times. Throughout it all though, his main focus was to locate his father and find out why he had left the vault, and if he was even still alive. People had always seemed surprised at his willingness to help them out, but he secretly enjoyed being sent on the many interesting errands for people. Exploring the wastes never got old. There were mountains of discoveries to find; pre-war journals and computer entries, strange people, even stranger creatures, technologies that had a huge array of functions, and locations that were beautiful, if desolate.

Living in the safe haven of Megaton made it easy to forget that the world was cruel and unforgiving.

He ventured out on his own quite a bit; usually with no event, but there were always times when things went horribly wrong.

He remembered one particular instance: He had spotted a church in the distance, and ran up, curious to see what could still be left. The place had looked completely abandoned, so he walked up without much thought. A moment later, a screaming, wide-eyed girl shot out from the far side of the church. A gout of fire followed her, and she had burned to death there, in front of Mouse. She had looked up at him as her hair caught fire and melted, and then her head was engulfed and she collapsed. Following her was a laughing, dirt-encrusted raider with a flamethrower. He looked up and saw Mouse staring in horror, stunned. Feeling like the world was going in slow motion, Mouse wheeled around and scrambled for the corner of the church. A step away and he felt the left side of his torso turn hot, then numb. He'd fumbled his pistol out and retreated along the side of the church, grasping where his shirt and some of his skin had been burnt off, and hoping the raider was dumb enough to follow him around instead of doubling back. He was. Mouse sent three bullets directly into his head. He had felt horrible, and shacked up at the church for the rest of the day and night. He had been burnt in a large patch over his ribs and used up most of his water trying to keep the shiny and crisped skin cool and hydrated. He stayed the night, shivering with the cold and the sickening pain coming from his burn. By the time the sun came up, he could move without being in agony, and slowly made his way back to Megaton. He felt lucky that the burn hadn't become infected. Lesson learned. He felt like there were so many tricks and tactics, and just plain common sense, that he didn't have access to because he was a newcomer here. In the vault, everything was provided for you and, at least until the day the blast door had opened, completely safe. He felt like a bumbling idiot at times, and lamented that the only real way to learn out here was experience. The saying 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger' certainly applied out here, but more often than not it was a case of 'there's so much shit out to kill you that that doesn't really matter'. Sitting in the bar now, he absently traced the ridge of burn tissue under his shirt and frowned. _Stupidity is rewarded with pain. Yes._

After many sights seen, people met, and barren locales discovered, Mouse had finally tracked his dad to an old, well-preserved vault hidden in a run-down auto body shop. He had read about virtual reality from some old holodisks in the dark recesses of vault 101's extensive library, but to actually experience it had been a jarring and amazing event. He had rescued his dad from the trap laid for him, and James was now happily working away at Project Purity with his old colleagues. The reunion had been strange. They were both happy to see each other, tearful even, besides James' reproach of Mouse for leaving the vault to look for him. But after that, James had immediately wanted to set off to find Dr. Li and to continue with his research on producing clean water. He had seemed a little obsessed, but after thinking on it for a long time, Mouse could understand why his dad wanted to keep going with Project Purity instead of trying to settle down and live somewhere in relative safety. It had been his mother's great dream to see Project Purity completed; it would change the face of the wastes for the better. Mouse had escorted his father to Rivet City, cleared out the research facility at the memorial, and been on his way to let them work in peace. He hadn't been to visit them in a while... maybe he would stop by the next time he was at Rivet City to see Harkness, old Doc Preston, and...

He was startled out of his memories by a rough bump.

Glancing around quickly and out of reflex putting a hand to his back to grasp at a rifle that wasn't there, _duh, I left everything on my bed at Carol's,_ he saw Ahzrukhal making a shame-faced smirk at him.

"So sorry, smoothskin. Didn't mean to bang into you there. Apologies." He continued smirking and moved away, back to the far end of the bar. Mouse grunted and glanced at his watch and saw it was very late; he had sat there woolgathering for nearly an hour. The ghouls up at the bar with him had graduated from drunken slumping to being fast asleep on the counter, heads resting on folded arms. One was snoring lightly. Ahzrukhal looked to be putting things away and getting ready to shut the bar for the night.

Mouse stood up and quickly realized something on his body felt off. There was a bulk missing from his pocket... his bag of bottlecaps. _No way,_ he thought angrily, face becoming hot, and hair prickling. _Did that dirty bartender really just pickpocket all of my cash just now?_ Still standing rigid from his discovery, his eyes slowly travelled to rest on Ahzrukhal. He was typing on an old computer, and looked up as he realized someone was staring at him. He smirked, an evil glint in his eye, as if to say _what, want to say something?_

"You took my money." Mouse said in a flat emotionless voice.

Ahzrukhal's smirk widened into a sleazy grin. "I did nothing of the sort, smoothskin. That's a serious accusation."

Mouse started walking toward Ahzrukhal, intending to punch his lights out.

The ghoul flicked his eyes to the corner, and then back to Mouse, smile still frozen on his face.

Before Mouse could set his foot down on his third step toward the disgusting scumbag, the corner of his eye caught a blur of movement and a huge leather-clad arm closed around his neck. A hard, cold piece of metal was pressed against his lower spine. Mouse froze, his mind whirling and blood racing. With a chill he realized, _it's_ _the bouncer. How fast is this guy? He's as big as a house but moves like a snake or something._ The arm holding him still felt like a vise. Mouse was a strong guy, but this monster that had him in a headlock had him beat by far. He didn't want his guts blasted out his front, so he stopped moving and raised his hands in an I'm unarmed gesture.

Ahzrukhal let out a gurgly chuckle. "Very wise, smoothskin, very wise. You had something I want, so I took it. I have the muscle to back it up, as you've realized, and no one down here gives a shit what happens to some no-name smoothskin. So go on, get out. Maybe I won't have him break anything if you leave now and keep your mouth shut."

_This isn't over._ He fumed on the inside. Bartenders robbing patrons... why? Because he wasn't a ghoul? Because he mentioned he had a few caps with him? Because no one cares and he can get away with it_? I guess so. It's the fucking wasteland. Take what you can._

He could barely move his head and it was starting to be difficult to breathe, even though the entire encounter had taken less than 15 seconds. He managed a small nod.

"Good. See him out, Charon."

_Charon, then. Shah-run._ The mysterious hulking ghoul with anger etched into his face had a name. Charon relaxed and withdrew his arm, but didn't remove the barrel of the shotgun from Mouse's back. He only spoke one word, in a deep grumble.

"Out."

The command brooked no denial. Mouse turned toward the door, and snuck a sideways glance at the guy who had ambushed him. He was tall and broad and oddly... vibrant. In a world where everything was dust and dirt and weariness, this guy Charon exuded some kind of aura of energy and liveliness. Ironic, considering what kind of being he was. He glanced up at the ragged face and saw the anger again, but now it was tempered by another emotion. Sadness, or regret... longing maybe. Then his eyes hardened again and he growled at Mouse.

Mouse left.


	2. Unexpected Help

He stalked the lower level of Underworld, pacing back and forth and seething. How was he going to get his cash back? His entire sum of money was in that filthy sleaze ball's possession now. _I was too trusting... Look, I practically fall asleep right in front of him and this happens. Idiot._ Was it even worth it to try to recover his stuff? Was it even possible to get back in there without the bodyguard ripping his arms off? Maybe he deserved it. He had snoozed and then losed, as the saying went. He whirled around and crashed into a flailing snuffling body.

"Gaaaahhh!" A ghoul was laying on the floor, squirming around pathetically. Mouse knelt by him and grabbed his shoulder. _I've made more physical contact with ghouls in 5 minutes than I have my entire life, what's the deal_ he thought wryly, his money problems momentarily forgotten.

"Hey are you okay, man? Sorry about that; I was thinking about something and wasn't watching where I was going." Mouse looked at him, concerned. The ghoul looked a little out of it. Mouse didn't think he'd bumped him that hard.

"Mmmmph. Yeaaaah yeah I'm.. 'm'alright. You're a... harder wall than I ..ffthought." The ghoul sat up and shook his head, fair hair flopping around. "Uuugh, I'll jush..just sit. Right here. For a while." He levered his way up from the floor to the bench that was nearby.

"Are you sure? You seem kind of...uh." Mouse trailed off, not really sure if it was polite to finish what he was thinking.

"Ohhh, no. I'm always a little ... you know." He lunged forward a little, body tilting.

Mouse squinted at him.

"You're really drunk aren't you."

The ghoul opened his eyes widely, and attempted to look offended.

"What are YOU trying to say about ME ... no, no, you're right." He wiped his hand across his face and looked like he was trying to focus. "Patchwork, that's me. Town drunk, nicetameetcha. Though I'd like to be more drunk, if you catsshh my meaning." He made a groggy wink at Mouse.

Mouse stared at him, dumbfounded. This guy looked like he was ready to keel over and sleep for a week, and he wanted to drink more? _... Drink. Like at the bar._ Maybe he knew something that could help Mouse get back into the Ninth Circle to reclaim his money. He wasn't really sure what this reeling mess could tell him but it was worth a shot to ask.

"Hey Patchwork?"

Patchwork looked around, craning his head like those pre-war birds, owls. Blinking kind of like one too.

"You c'n jush call me Patches, if you... if you like that. Mosht people don't even... wait-wha..."

"Okay then, Patches." Mouse tried to think of anything to ask him before the dazed ghoul zonked out. _Umm._ "The Ninth Circle is closed right now, right? Do you know where Ahzrukhal sleeps?" If he slept out front, Mouse would be out of luck.

Patches giggled. "Sure, I try to sneak in there all the time after hoursss. Charon alwaysh boots me out though. Can't keep quiet enough to make it up to the bar. The shecond Ahzzzerkal hears me, he hollers from the back room and that big guy comes out and picksh me up and dumps me outshide. Can't even believe it." He sniffed. "Good thing Charons likesh me, I don't think he'd be so nice to anyone elsh. A toss down the shtairs is good treatment from him."

This was a ton more information than Mouse had hoped for. Ahzrukhal and Charon stayed in a back room when the bar was closed. There was a safe behind the bar. If his caps were there, he would be set. Hopefully the scummy barkeep didn't keep everything on his person... then he'd be out of luck. It was worth a try though. Even if his stuff wasn't in the safe, there had to be something there. _Why else have a damn safe?_ With the issue of Ahzrukhal hearing him, Mouse was fairly slenderly built and very quick on his feet and could move nearly silently when he had to. Years of boredom in the vault had been ample time for training his muscles and his sneaking abilities. He thought back to the several times he'd managed to quietly sneak up on Butch and dump a bottle of water on his carefully coiffed hair. _Gotcha, nosebleed._ Hope somewhat restored, Mouse stood up, thanked Patches, and went for his rented room at Carol's to grab a few supplies for the attempt. Patchwork weakly called after him:

"Heeeeey, don't forget to bring me back... somefing." Mouse glanced back and saw Patches had already slumped against the wall and his eyes were barely open. He smirked and bounded up the stairs.


	3. The Heist

His pack was still next to the thin bed in Carol's Place. _I need to get in, quickly and quietly, without being seen._ Mouse rifled through the bag and dug into a side pocket, and came out with a small wrist-mounted device. A Stealth Boy. Mouse didn't like the sensation of only seeing a shimmery disturbance when he looked down at himself, but they were definitely useful at times. _This should be easy, it'll be dark in there so no one will see me, and I can crack that safe and be out and gone from here._ He slipped it on his right wrist without activating it. _I just hope the door is quiet._

He walked back to the Ninth Circle through a darkened Underworld. There was no way to tell if it was night or day down here, but it looked like, Winthrop, he supposed, dimmed and brightened the lights to copy the normal day cycle. _That's kinda nice._ It was very quiet and empty feeling, the only noises were the whirr and whine of the old air exchangers and occasional mutters and footsteps as the few people still awake talked and moved around. He could hear his heart thudding loudly in his ears, and tried to calm himself. He approached the wooden double doors of the Ninth Circle. The Ninth Circle. Mouse had read tons of books from the vault's library on holo, and he'd gotten through a bit of Dante's Inferno. If he remembered correctly, the ninth circle of hell was for betrayers and treacherous people. He rolled his eyes. _Heh._

Mouse knelt down by the door and just listened for a minute. No sounds coming from inside. He pulled two bobby pins from his pocket and set one in the lock. He jiggled the other until he heard the pins in the lock catch, and rotated his first to turn the lock. _That was... surprisingly easy. I'd have thought a guy like Ahzrukhal would have this place locked down tight._ He slowly opened the door, bracing himself for the loud squeak that would give him away. Nothing. The door was silent, and so was the dark bar. He glanced around inside. A few ghouls at tables, very much asleep. _Guess if they drink enough he just lets them stay the night._ He examined the Stealth Boy on his wrist and used a fingernail to click the tiny orange button. The stealth field activated and his body shimmered out of sight. Mouse's stomach made a sick swooping motion. _Ugh._

_He relies on the bodyguard, Charon,_ the thought suddenly coming to him. _He's complacent about his locks because he can say the word and that huge pile of muscle is right there. Works for me, if he's not out here._ Uneasy, he made a sweep of the room again. Nothing. Both Ahzrukhal and Charon were gone from the main room, probably in a living area behind the bar. Mouse glided over the floor, past the tables and the bar. His heart pounded and his mouth had dried up. He swallowed with a dry click. There was the safe on the wall, and the fridge with some of the bar's menu items. Mouse carefully picked the lock on the safe, with the nearly the same ease as the door. It was a little harder because this time he couldn't see his fingers. _Okay, this is getting a little suspicious, why is everything so easy and open?_ He opened the safe door, and found next to nothing. A bottle of whiskey, a canister of jet, and a tiny pile of caps. Mouse stared, disappointed. _Man, this Stealth Boy was probably worth more than what's in here. And my caps aren't here... he probably took them back with him._ He grabbed what little was in the safe and stuffed the items into his pants pockets. He turned around to leave, defeated, when his eye fell on one of the many crates lining the shelves behind the bar. The other crates had bottles of alcohol in them, but this one closest to the fridge had... a toolbox. With a lock on it. _…Interesting._ By this time, Mouse had almost relinquished the idea of getting his money back, now he just wanted to do some damage to the asshole who'd betrayed his trust as a customer.

He dug the box out and, for the third time, picked the lock holding the lid closed. This one was considerably tougher than the door and the safe, and by the end, Mouse was sweating and had broken three picks. But the hasp finally clicked open, and he tugged the lock off. He opened the box and immediately saw his worn bag that he kept his caps in. _Hah!_ He quietly snatched the bag out and placed it in his pocket along with the items from the safe. The other thing in the box was a revolver that looked like it was very well maintained. No bullets to go with it, but the gun itself was a nice find. _Looks like this was one of old Ahzrukhal's babies. Now it's mine, jerkoff._

The final item in the box was the strangest, and Mouse almost missed seeing it. It was a very old, yellowed piece of paper tucked into a corner of the box. It had been folded and unfolded many times, and was soft from the many handlings it'd had. Mouse took it out of the now empty box and examined it, wondering why it would be kept under lock. There had been writing on it at one time, but it had been worn away and smudged and nothing was legible anymore. Mouse couldn't think of any use for it, but since it was important enough to keep hidden and under lock, he re-folded it and placed it in his shirt pocket. Anything to piss the guy off. _What an asshole._ Now it was time to leave, his Stealth Boy was starting to heat up and he could see that a very faint warning light had turned on. He made for the end of the bar, and right as he made it to the edge, the Stealth Boy weirdness betrayed him again. He was in a hurry, and bumped his invisible foot right into the corner of the bar. A ghoul that had been drinking was slumped over the bar and his empty bottle was right on the edge. The jolt had been just enough to send it tumbling to the ground. It shattered. The piercing noise cracked through the sleepy silence of the room and the ghoul next to him jerked awake. Mouse let out a startled grunt. Then he heard his death sentence ring out from the back room.

"CHARON! KILL THE THIEVING BASTARD OUT THERE!"


	4. The Hunt

Without stopping for anything, Mouse jumped over the broken bottle and bolted for the door. The attack dog had been summoned and he didn't want to wait around to see what horrific things would happen if Charon caught him. _That guy's quick from a standstill, I hope he can't run as good..._ Mouse tore out of the bar and flew down the stairs, hopping them by threes. He made a bee line right for the big double doors at the entrance. His Stealth Boy started to spark and sputter and the field finally failed with a loud crackling. No help there. Underneath the litany of "oh shit oh shit oh shit" running through his mind he tried to make a quick plan. _I can get out and jump over the partition for the metro right outside. I could probably land without hurting myself too much and lose him in the station and stay there for a day if I have to. I can come back and get the rest of my stuff at Carol's and just get the hell out. This was way more trouble than it's worth._ Heart pounding and breath starting to get ragged he finally slammed through the museum door and emerged in the rotunda. He could hear heavy thudding footsteps pursuing him, very close now. _Crap. He _is_ a good runner._ He careened out the door and, because of his state of panic, bashed his head on an overhanging construction lamp. His vision flashed white and went spotty for a moment. Blood trickled down the side of his face and he wiped it away. Still running, he shook his head and drifted off course because of his dizziness. Not seeing where he was going, he made it to a door and shoved it open, expecting the cool air of outside. With a shock, he realized it was the dark museum room he'd cleared out earlier. _Fuck!_ There was no time to go back, the ghoul chasing him was nearly on top of him. He slammed the door shut behind him and raced into the back area. The only thing he could do was hide, and hope the monstrous ghoul wouldn't find him. This place had no exit, it was a dead end.

It sounded like the door had slowed Charon down a tiny bit, so Mouse had a second to scope out hiding places. There was practically nothing. He charged down a long hallway, and had his _what, my fourth? fifth?_ next piece of bad luck that night. His foot came down on a bear trap that hadn't been sprung on his way through earlier. It snapped shut on his ankle, but was blocked slightly by his thick leather boots. Nothing was broken, but it hurt like a bastard and it felt like his bones had been squashed together. He would definitely have a nasty bruise there tomorrow. If there was a tomorrow. _Fuck._ Frustrated, but by now, hardly surprised, Mouse grabbed the jaws of the trap and pulled them apart, straining his arms and gingerly limping out of the trap. Luckily the trap was old and the spring was wearing out or he might have been stuck there. Regardless, his leg was out of commission. This was it, he couldn't run anymore. He dropped to all fours and crawled under a nearby table. _Stupid._ He heard quiet footsteps stalking up the hallway now, not even bothering to run. Knowing there was no way out of this place for his prey. Mouse's hair prickled and his skin crawled. Close to panic, he put a hand on his heart to try to calm the thumping. He heard a crinkle and touched his shirt pocket again. The paper. _This damn thing, I don't even know what it is._ Pulling it out, he looked at it in the dark, just a dim white square. He held it and listened again. A rasping voice floated out of the darkness:

"You can't hide from me."

_Spooky motherfucker. He knows he's got me and now he's playing with me. Fuck._ Mouse just stayed still and waited. Heart still racing, and adrenaline surging through his body, but there was nothing he could do. So he waited. Eyes straining, he watched as legs and feet materialized out of the gloom, followed by a shotgun swinging by a hand. The hand connected to the heavily muscled arm and the torso, and finally the head and face. Pale blue eyes glittering in the dark. He looked like a goddamn harbinger of the apocalypse. Mouse just sat there, a feeling of sudden sleepiness washing over him. This was it. The end. The advancing specter lifted his shotgun with the one hand and Mouse stared helplessly into the cavernous barrel pointed at his face.

"Got you."

Mouse tensed his whole body, waiting for the crash to ring out, and for him to be gone and dead. His fist crumpled the paper he was holding, and he squeezed his eyes shut.


	5. Reversal

It felt like an eternity, waiting there with his eyes shut. The shot he expected never came. _What's going on? Why-_

"What is that?" Charon's voice grated out. Mouse was wound up so tight he had no idea what the ghoul was asking him. _What was what? _

He stammered out "Wha.. what?", finally opening his eyes again. Charon had lowered the gun and was staring at his hand resting on the floor.

"That. The paper. What is it?"

He lifted his hand and held the square out to Charon. "I don't know, I can't read anything on it." He swallowed loudly in a parched throat. His arm felt like it was made of lead. "I grabbed it from that guy upstairs, your boss I guess, I don't know what it is..." He trailed off and retracted his hand, seeing an incredibly odd transformation taking over Charon's face. He went from cold and calculating to looking smug and almost pleased.

"Good." He swung his shotgun around and hooked it on his back, and did the last thing Mouse ever expected. Knelt and held a hand out to him. Mouse was shocked into extending his own and placing it in Charon's. Charon pulled him upright and he stood. He stepped very lightly on his injured ankle, testing if it would support him, and instead opted to half-sit half-lean on the table he'd been hiding under. What was going on?

"What is this paper? Are you uh… still going to shoot me?"

Charon said nothing for a moment, a gleeful light dancing in his eyes. Paired with the stony face, it was a strange effect.

"That... is my contract. I am bound to serve whoever holds it. Ahzrukhal sent me down here to eliminate you, but now you hold it, so I have no further obligation to him."

Mouse was yet again dumbfounded. _His contract?_ "Like a mercenary or something?"

"A slave." His words came out strained.

_A slave. Because of this piece of paper?_

"Here, then." Mouse held the paper out to Charon. "I don't want to own anyone, take it." Charon took a step back, his eyes darkening a little.

"I can't."

"Why?" Mouse asked.

"That is just part of the contract. You're stuck with it."

"What, you can read this?" he squinted at the paper again. _Yeah, good luck reading it here in the dark, genius. _

"I know the terms of my contract. You have to keep it. Unless you decide to transfer it to another." His tone of voice with the last statement seemed to suggest that he'd rather that not happen. Mouse shrugged and placed the paper back in his pocket. So now this beast of a man was employed with him instead of trying to find and kill him. The knot of tension that had been resting in his stomach since the bottle had crashed to the floor and alerted Ahzrukhal to his presence suddenly dissolved. A dizzying wave of relief washed over him, and he felt as if he was going to burst into either tears or hysterical laughter. He instead croaked out:

"He'll be angry, huh. Ahzrukhal I mean."

Charon actually grunted and let out a derisive chuckle at that. "Yes. Not that it matters."

Emotions swinging wildly and still feeling bemused, Mouse held out his hand to Charon. "Well, since you're not going to blast my face off anymore, nice to meet you. I'm Mouse," he said with a laugh, shaky from relief.

Charon looked surprised, but he held out his own rough hand and clasped Mouse's. They shook. "Charon." Mouse smiled crookedly; he was exhausted, had just been running for his life, his ankle felt like a tiny animal with needle teeth was chewing into him, and he was in a strange place far from home. But he had found, if not a friend, an ally of some kind, and felt a surge of relief and peacefulness, down here in the dark.

He slung his arm around Charon's shoulder with a little difficulty when he offered, and they walked out of the dim hallway, back into the glow of the rotunda and back into Underworld.


	6. A Fond Farewell

They were both back at Carol's Place; Mouse sitting on his rented bed and Charon sitting cross-legged on the floor next to him and his now very swollen ankle. He had convinced Mouse to let him take a look at it, to make sure nothing was seriously hurt. The boot had deep jags crunched into the leather; the ankle had only minor jags crunched in it, thankfully. It had turned a lovely shade of reddish purple and was about twice the size it should be. Now that the adrenaline was gone, every twitch or slight movement Mouse made with his foot caused a sickening spike of pain to shoot into his stomach. He tried to keep as still as possible as Charon removed the boot and examined his skin. He had never been so close to a ghoul before, the top of Charon's head was right near his knee, and both forearms a little lower. Mouse could see where the skin fell away to exposed muscles and veins. He got a wild impulse to touch Charon's skin, to see what it felt like. He decided he'd rather keep his fingers unbroken and instead thought of something to stop the silence as his foot was being examined. "What does this contract mean? You said I'm stuck with it, do I have to do anything?"

"It means you are my employer. I am bound to do as you say, concerning combat and protection. You do not have to do anything."

He pulled a syringe of med-x from a pocket and a stimpak from another. He slid the med-x needle into the skin and injected a tiny bit of the drug in the places where the teeth had been. Charon had removed his gloves, and Mouse could now feel the feverish heat emanating from the ghoul's bare skin. It felt kind of good against his leg. Mouse watched, fascinated at the contrast of these gentle ministrations compared to the stalking predator Charon had been a few minutes ago.

"You don't talk much, do you?"

Charon smirked down at the ankle he was working on. "No."

He injected the full stimpak under the reddened area and chucked the empty tubes in the corner. He stood.

"I have to go... have a talk with my previous employer. Rest here and we can leave tomorrow."

Mouse nodded and carefully pulled his leg up onto the bed. "Okay. Do you want me to rent you a room here? Have you slept?"

"I don't need to sleep."

_Oh. Okay._ "Well, alright. I'm just gonna rest then." The med-x combined with the frantic running and terror of earlier had made him incredibly sleepy. He laid down and watched Charon turn to leave the room, apparently going back to the Ninth Circle. He hesitantly called, "Charon." He had a thousand questions to ask, but they could wait for later. "Thank you. For helping me," he said instead, smiling sleepily. Charon looked taken aback and a little embarrassed. It looked like he wasn't used to being thanked for anything. "You're... welcome." His deep voice tilted up at the end, almost turning it into a question. He opened the door and stepped out, and Mouse closed his eyes.

Sleep drifted over him, and he almost went under, starting to dream when he heard something quiet and muffled from far away. Not a very good sound. *bam!* *ch-cht* *bam!* He briefly wondered what on earth it was, but it was so quiet and unimportant sounding, and his body couldn't take being awake anymore. He slept.


	7. Leaving Underworld

Mouse woke and blearily looked at his surroundings. Pack at the foot of the bed, a thin sheet thrown over him, filmy dividers to block the rest of the room, and a massive ghoul leaning against the wall. _Oh, yeah._ He rolled towards him and squinted.

"Mornin', Charon."

Charon slightly inclined his head and waited as Mouse fully woke up. He stretched his arms, scratched his fingers through his hair, fluffing it out, and wiped his eyes. "Okay, moment of truth." He scooted to the edge of the bed and swung his legs over the side. He lowered his feet to the chilly marble floor and stood up, wavering a little. He shifted his weight from one leg to the other without any major difficulties. A smile broke over Mouse's face and he turned back to the ghoul. "Still hurts, but I can walk on it for sure. Guess I'm all set here. Nothing against you, but I think I've had enough of this crazy ass place for right now." He sat back down and pulled his pant leg up to examine his injured ankle. The skin was puffy and now really on its way to purplish-black, but the swelling had gone down, and it just felt like a minor ache instead of like his ankle was filled with burning glass.

"Good." Charon shifted his weight forward and stood away from the wall, waiting. He glanced down at Mouse examining the injury. "That looks better."

Mouse probed the skin, pressing it in and watching it turn pale, then fade back to purple as he released it.

"It does. You're good at fixing stuff like this then, huh?"

Charon shrugged, "Sure. I'd practically have a doctorate by now." It was hard to read ghouls' facial expressions normally, and Charon was even worse. He almost always kept his face very blank. Mouse couldn't tell if he was serious or joking around. He squinted at the ghoul again, and Charon rolled his eyes. _Pfff._

"We're a match made in heaven, Charon. A guy who leaps into bear traps and a smartass who can cure bear trap wounds."

Mouse pulled his socks on and grabbed his boots from under the bed, the left one with its set of teeth marks. Tossed his bag of caps back into his leather pack, and then realized he'd fallen asleep with the spent Stealth Boy wrapped around his wrist. He detached the clip that held the band together and grimaced at the constricted shiny feel of his skin. His pocket still had that mysterious contract in it. _I still don't really know what the deal with it is, but I guess I know enough._ He tucked it deeper. He took his pistol out of a pocket in the pack and placed it back at his side along with his knife. He slung his pack onto his shoulder and grabbed his prized possession that had been leaning against the wall. His sniper rifle.

Charon looked amused, "That gun's as big as you are."

"Maybe." He lifted the rifle and looked down the sight; socking the butt into his shoulder and feeling the comforting weight of the heavy stock rest against his hand. "Saved me some trouble quite a few times, though." He smirked. "And I look like a badass, huh?" he said, crouching and posing with the gun.

"You're very... strange."

"Whatever you say, Charon, I know you're impressed," he said with a sniff. He pulled the strap out on the rifle and hung it on his back. _He's right, it is almost as big as me._ He turned back to face Charon. "Well, I'm ready. You have anywhere you want to go, out in the glorious wastes?"

Charon's eyebrows raised, "Me? ...What are you doing out here?"

"Exploring, honestly." Mouse scratched his head and replaced his sunglasses. "Scavenging. I've been gone from home for a long time, though. We could head back and relax for a while. This is the furthest I've gone in one trip for a long time; I'm ready for something boring."

Charon shrugged again, "You're the boss, let's go."

"Right. Onward."

They left the confines of the small rented room, and Mouse stopped at the counter to tell Carol goodbye. She looked surprised that the hulking ghoul was following the human, but then she looked knowingly at Charon, and smiled. She said quietly, "I'm glad you got away from him, you deserve better. Take care."

Charon nodded and they exited the place. They made it to the staircase that lead down to the main hall and Mouse let out a shaky giggle, "I'm glad we're leaving together this time, instead of me running for my life and you hauling ass after me."

Charon grunted a laugh, "Nothing against you personally. I had an order and was following it."

"You're a scary guy sometimes, you know?"

"It's been said."

Once down the stairs, Mouse turned around to take a last look at Underworld. For now, at least. _Hey, is that..._ There was a rumpled lump resting on one of the benches along the wall. "Hang on a sec," Mouse rummaged through his pack and came out with the lone bottle of whiskey he'd swiped from Ahzrukhal's decoy safe. He walked quietly over to the lump and wedged the bottle between Patches' chest and his curled arm. He squirmed and smiled in his sleep. Mouse returned to Charon with a sheepish smile, "I owed him a drink."

"He'll probably cry with joy and go get drunk on the roof again. What an idiot." Charon smirked.

They made their way out to the rotunda and back to the once ornate museum doors. They were both tense and inwardly excited. Mouse back out into the danger of the wastes, and Charon finally feeling a bit of freedom again after so long being stuck in that hellhole of a bar.

They both pushed the doors open and walked into the blinding sunlight of downtown D.C.


	8. On the Road Again

The best way back to Megaton was through the museum metro station back to Anacostia Crossing near Rivet City, then just a straight shot above ground back to home. They saw Willow patrolling further out near the sidewalk. She raised her hand to greet them, and then did a double take when she saw Charon. She jumped and waved more excitedly. They waved back and headed down the huge concrete entranceway into the metro.

"I came to Underworld this way, so there shouldn't be anything dangerous down here. There were a few raiders and roaches." He looked around in the dim light, feeling the cold air, and smelling the old machinery and damp stone in the air. They went deeper into the station, walking through the echoey platform area, and looked for the right track tunnel to take. The high ceiling yawned above them, Mouse liked the feeling it gave. Like the grand cathedrals he'd seen pictures of in the vault's library. This was going to be a long walk; the trains ran pretty far. He remembered something he had wondered about back when he first made it to Underworld.

"Hey Charon, how good is your eyesight?"

Charon was walking behind and to the right of him. If Mouse hadn't heard his quiet breathing and the occasional clink of his shotgun sliding across a buckle, he would've thought he was alone. "Fairly good. I can probably see better than you can, down here anyway."

"You can see in the dark?"

"Yes. Not perfectly, but well enough." They continued down the tunnel. It was amazing that all the lights hadn't burnt out since the war. Even more amazing that there was still some power running to them. They picked their way past the occasional trains, some had derailed and crashed. Mouse kept quiet and thought to himself for a while. He started wondering aloud as they walked:

"Is it strange to you that you know nothing about me? I guess I'm your new 'employer', do you ever join up with people without knowing who they are?"

Charon sounded surprised. "I don't get to pick who owns my contract, so, yes, all the time. The owners just want me for my combat skills, not conversation. They rarely explained themselves to me."

Mouse thought that over, wondering again at the mysterious contract. _Why did it exist at all?_ He decided to ask later, when they weren't such strangers.

They had come up on a train that had somehow crashed across the tunnel, completely blocking any way of moving around it. It was tilted back and had been wedged firmly into the wall and surrounding rubble. Mouse and Charon stopped and looked at it, trying to determine a way around. There was a space at the top. "Can we climb over? That's kinda tall... There was a slope on the other side; I didn't know the drop-off over here was this big." Mouse eyed the bottom edge of the train, where they'd have to get to in order to climb the rest of the way over. Charon stood under the edge and raised his arm up to touch it.

"Give me a boost, I can pull you up after me."

"Yeesh, I'll try. You look pretty damn heavy," he answered, eyeing Charon. He stooped and laced his hands together, bracing for the weight. Setting a hand lightly on Mouse's shoulder, Charon came closer and set his foot into the step.

"Okay... lift!" He bent his knee as Mouse hauled upwards and straightened out at the apex of the lift; he flattened his palms against the reachable edge of the train and straightened his arms to hoist himself up. Quickly arching his back, he swung his knee forward and got a boot on the edge, and pulled himself up. Mouse watched, fascinated. Charon had somehow balanced himself to feel nearly weightless when he kicked off Mouse's step up.

"Okay, so you're a doctor and a gymnast too now, huh?" he peered up at Charon perching on the train edge.

Charon stood and suppressed a laugh, trying to look nonchalant and dusting imaginary dirt from the thighs of his armor.

"Uh huh, well, help me up then..." he stretched out a hand and glared at him with mock suspicion. Charon kneeled down and extended a hand downward. Mouse moved to take his hand, ready to start the clamber up, and Charon grabbed him around the wrist instead, completely lifting him off the ground. Charon stood and brought Mouse the rest of the way up, setting him down a few inches away. Mouse stared again, arm still held up. He was about a foot from the smirking monster and felt a shiver go up his back as Charon looked at him. He could feel the heat emanating from the ghoul's body, and could actually smell him now. Leather and sunny dirt, a very free, outdoor smell.

"Impressed, right?" he rumbled, smirking wider at Mouse's stunned look and flushed face. He released Mouse's wrist and in a quick movement turned to slide down the other side of the train car. _Pffffff._ "Fuckin' show off ghoul," he muttered, and slid down the train, face still burning from being so close to Charon. _Why is my face burning?_ He let Charon walk ahead and mulled the thought over. _He's huge._ He looked ahead, his line of sight about even with the top of Charon's shoulder. _He's terrifyingly fast and apparently really damn strong. _He rubbed his wrist where Charon had grabbed him and lifted him like he weighed no more than an empty box. Charon's skin was torn and ragged, it gave his face a decidedly strange look. _But... alluring in a weird way. And his physique..._ He imagined again what running his hand over his skin would feel like, and what the rest of his body would loo-

Mouse collided with Charon's broad back and let out a startled hmph sound.

"Daydreaming again?" Mouse could hear the amusement in his voice and scowled. They had stopped at a place where the track split off into three different directions. The tunnels led off into complete darkness, looking identical. "Well, which way?"

"I... have no idea. So, it's time to bring out the big guns," he reached into his pack and dug all the way to the bottom, bringing out what looked like a thick metal sleeve with a monitor on one side.

Charon raised an eyebrow as his gaze fell on the object, "You're from a vault." Neither accusing nor questioning, just a statement. Mouse looked up.

"Yeah, I am. I've been out here for about a year. As you've seen I still don't really know... not really how to take care of myself, I guess, just not how the world fully works out here. How people work. It's very different." As he spoke, he clicked the startup button on the side, and waited for the gadget to warm up. The screen flickered to life, and he tuned it to the map program. He waited for the computer to find where he was located. "I don't wear it because I feel like it over-assists. I wanted to learn how to fend for myself without electronic help. Besides that, people get pre-conceived opinions about you if they see you wearing one, kind of annoying."

Charon watched the glow of the screen in the dark, green lines slowly forming a general map of the stretch of tunnel they were in. "I thought those couldn't be removed?"

Mouse smiled and looked back over his shoulder at Charon. "I've heard that said too. Actually, it's only half true. Each PipBoy is tuned to a specific person and _they're_ the only one who can remove it. Without, y'know, also removing the arm." His smile faded at the gruesome thought, and he returned his attention to the screen.

The pathing system was ready, and it directed them toward the rightmost tunnel. "I only use it for the radio and holodisk player or when I'm really lost or really in trouble, and I'd say this is a decent example of being lost." He re-checked the map and nodded. "It says we go through that one, and we'll end up at the Anacostia Crossing station. It's above ground from there, no problem."

Charon nodded, looking inscrutable. _When does he not._ They set off for the correct tunnel and Mouse continued speaking, "The compass was the only thing I really can't do without sometimes, so I popped it off and keep it in my pocket. And the Geiger counter on it functions even when the PipBoy is off. So keeping it in my pack seemed like a better idea." They had approached the start of where the light had gone, and the darkness became like a solid wall. "A bad thing, though, is that the light on it is busted. So this isn't going to be fun." Mouse was only able to see a vague outline of Charon standing in front of him by squinting and looking slightly to his side. Charon glanced at Mouse and then back to the tunnel ahead.

"The ground is really broken up in there, it might be better if I carried you."

_Wha?_ "Carried?"

Charon explained, "I can see the ground fairly well, and your ankle isn't fully healed. It might be better if I carried you."

Mouse shifted on his feet, he was okay for walking, but if a foot fell through the cracked concrete and got stuck, or he stumbled... it would probably be very bad. _Fine._

"You're right. I feel bad, but alright. How do you want me?"

In the dark he could hear Charon exhale sharply. _Oh. Bad word choice, hell._ His cheeks burned in the dark again.

Voice straining against laughter, "Piggy back is best, I'll carry my gun."

Mouse sighed and made sure his pack was secure and nothing was going to fall off him. Charon had crouched a little and Mouse carefully hopped onto his back, arms wrapped around his neck, and knees pressed into his sides. "Sorry if this is weird," he muttered. Their faces were close together and Charon hrmphed back at him. As Charon walked, Mouse could feel the muscles beneath him shift and roll. He felt a mixture of gratitude and awkwardness as they moved through the inky blackness. It would probably be a while before they hit the other station.

"I dunno if you mind me talking so much, you seem like a quiet person."

The shoulders under him rose and fell in a shrug. "I don't. It's been a long time since I've had reason to speak, is all." His voice deepened and Mouse heard a tinge of a growl, deadened in the small tunnel, "Ahzrukhal commanded me to keep silent, for the most part. After so many years, I've fallen out of practice." In the dark, deprived of his sight, Mouse picked up on a faint accent from Charon. He spoke in a slightly stilted way, enunciating each word a little more carefully than the average person Mouse had spoken with.

The corridor was still pitch black, and a damp breeze blew through it, carrying the smell of old oil and ozone from all the fizzled out power nodes. Charon meandered back and forth, picking out the best path, occasionally making short leaps across narrow chasms in the ground. Mouse had given up trying to figure out where they were and just rested his chin on Charon's shoulder, waiting for his sight to come back or for something to happen. Charon started the conversation this time, surprising Mouse.

"You're from a vault, so Mouse probably isn't your given name, hm."

Mouse gave a startled laugh, "You got me. No, Mouse is a nickname my stupid friend gave me a long time ago. We were learning about pre-war animals for a week in class when we were like 7 or 8. I got obsessed with mice, thought they were cute, and drew pictures of them in my notebook. A friend of mine, I guess, he was kind of a huge jerk, stole my notebook and started calling me Mouse Boy all the time. It just stuck after a while; guess it could've been worse. He liked to run around calling us stupid things like squirt or nosebleed or spaz. So now that's who I am to everyone. I came out here and introduced myself as Mouse, stuck in the habit."

"What's your real name?"

Mouse smiled in the dark. "It's Lee. No one's called me that in a long time."

"Lee." Charon rasped thoughtfully.

"Yep." It was silent again for a long time; the only sounds the clocking of Charon's boots on the stone, and water quietly dripping in the dark. It felt like they'd been walking for forever.

"I like Lee better."

"Yeah?" Mouse thought Charon had already forgotten about it. "You can call me Lee, if you'd rather. It'd be a nice change."

They fell into another silence, comfortably. Lee, _what a funny feeling, to be called by my name after so long,_ had nearly dozed off. The sounds of the walk were soothing, and the nearly feverish heat from Charon had made him pleasantly warm. He sleepily asked, "Why is your skin so warm?"

"Hmm? Oh. Compared to a human, I guess it is. You'd have to ask Doc Barrows back in Underworld for the scientific answer." He shrugged again, "Something to do with how fast ghouls' cells regenerate. They die off quickly, but are replaced at a higher rate as well." He shifted his neck around, stretching the vertebrae. "I think that has something to do with how long we live, too."

Another 10 minutes went by with no event. The darkness was completely uniform to Lee, and he had given up straining his eyes for anything visible. He closed his eyes and re-opened them periodically to check. After a time, he suddenly realized that he could see dim grey forms in the dark.

"Hey, Charon, I can see again, we must be close to the end."

"Good."

They continued on a bit, and Charon set Lee down on the ground when it was a bit brighter. He stretched his legs and his arms, which had gone slightly numb from holding his position for so long. "Tingly... Thanks for the, uh, lift." He swung his arm around in a circle, trying to get the blood flowing again.

"Sure. No need to break your bones so soon." Charon squatted and straightened out, flexing his legs.

"This should be Anacostia Crossing station, out that maintenance door up there," he pointed to the left of the enormous tunnel shutter. "We can stop in Rivet City for a day and recharge."

They reached the door and went through, ready for a rest.


	9. Rivet City

It was late afternoon as they emerged from the station. They had been travelling for most of the day and the sun would set soon. The station gate rattled a little on its tracks as Lee pushed it aside and they stepped out. The broken escalator stretched up and out in front of them. They trudged up the now-still steps and almost made it to street level when Lee froze. He put a hand out to stop Charon.

Out of the corner of his eye he had noticed a group of three people standing at the far side of the courtyard for the metro. He slowly turned and examined them more closely. They were dressed in black plated armor and were carrying some serious firepower. _Talon Company, great._ Luckily, all three were facing away from the metro, toward the building that rose up on the other side, taking a smoke break.

Lee slowly backed up and gestured with his hand for Charon to follow, so their heads were hidden again by the concrete sleeve of the metro access. In a whisper he said, "Those guys have been tracking me everywhere. I haven't got a clue how they keep finding me, but they're good at it. I can usually avoid them, but they're right in our way, so I think we've got to deal with them." Lee swallowed hard. "They're tough, but with your help it'll be much easier." He unslung his rifle from his back and checked it to make sure everything was set. "I'll take out one of them from cover, and then you start shooting." Charon nodded and they eased back up the stairs.

They were still facing away, and Lee lined up a shot, resting the barrel on the edge of the stairwell. _Do this fast before they notice they're being watched._ They were close enough for the image in the scope to be enormous, but everything was still identifiable. He focused on the leftmost guy with a plasma rifle, settling his neck into the crosshairs. Lee drew in a breath and squeezed the trigger.

The guy's neck was severed by the huge slug, and his body swayed drunkenly, then slumped and fell over. Before his two friends even had time to register what was going on, Charon had vaulted over the edge and let out a roar, firing his shotgun at the man in the middle who was turning around sluggishly with wide surprised eyes. His head and most of his upper torso vanished in a thick red mist. The third merc had a bit faster reflexes than his companion; he had drawn a ripper from his belt and was charging right at Lee, who looked like the smaller and less threatening of the two. _Should've just run for it._ Mouse reversed his rifle and slammed the butt of the stock right into the man's furious face as he came within range. Lee heard his nose shatter with a dull crunch, and felt the vibration of it through the body of his gun. The merc staggered back, a hand holding his spouting nose, right into Charon's vicinity. Charon grasped the man's head on either side, and twisted viciously. The snap echoed around the courtyard, and the man fell to the ground.

The two survivors looked at each other across the station and put their weapons away, adrenaline fading. Lee walked around the edge of the stairs and up to the three corpses, relieving them of their armor and weapons, and checking for any clue that would explain what they were after.

"Not bad," Charon growled. He stood back, watching Lee and wiping flecks of blood off his forearms.

Lee chuckled as he rummaged through one of the mercs' pockets. "I told you, get rid of trouble and look badass doing it." Inwardly he felt very pleased, nearly embarrassed. _Praise from Charon was something._ He couldn't see it, but Charon was rolling his eyes again at his bravado. The rummaging came to a stop; he had found a sheet of paper with a signature at the bottom. He rocked back on his heels and read it out loud:

"Find Mouse and show how we treat people that fail to live up to Mr. Tenpenny's expectations. Do not fail me. You know what will happen if you arouse my displeasure. Signed 'B'"

Lee wondered at the odd message. _Whose expectations?_ "This is nonsense to me. I don't know a Mr. Tenpenny, and who could 'B' be..."

Charon said, "Tenpenny is an old human that lives in a tower to the far west of here. He never leaves though... if you've never met him, I can't think why he would want you dead."

Lee stood, still confused, but at least he had a name to put with these random attempts on his life. "Well, not worth doing anything about it now. Let's head over to Rivet City. It's late and I dunno about you, but I could eat a whole pack of molerats right now." Charon nodded.

They sold off the loot from the late mercenaries to a caravan stopped at the base of the access ramp to Rivet City. The rusty scaffolding creaked in the wind as they ascended. They stopped at the top and took in the sight of the enormous aircraft carrier. Fog had come in from the nearby Tidal Basin and obscured the lower third of the boat. Lights twinkled through the eroded and patched side, and guards patrolled the entrance. A low creaking and groaning rolled over the water intermittently. Harkness hailed them from the other side of the huge chasm separating the ship and the two wanderers. After thumbing the button on the intercom and Lee explaining it was just him again, the long bridge was ponderously extended for them.

They gorged themselves on an enormous meal in the marketplace, too hungry to do anything but sit and stuff their faces. Lee was comfortable here, it felt like this was another version of home. Surrounded by steel and sealed doors, a close-knit community where everyone knew each other, safety from the dangers that were out there... _yeah it was like home._ It wasn't really dark yet, but Lee had long given up on trying to keep with sleep-when-it's-dark and wake-when-it's-light; it just wasn't worth the headache. They rented a room at Vera's hotel on the upper deck. The room was nice, very clean, and _aha_, best of all, a double bed.

"I know you've got to be tired, Charon. None of that 'I don't need sleep'."

Charon looked around the room and inspected the door. Grudgingly he said, "Looks safe enough. If it makes you feel better, I will sleep."

"Good. Cuz I'm beat." Feeling a little self-conscious but trying to ignore it, he started undressing. He sat down on the far side of the bed and unlaced his boots, noticing the considerable build-up of dust that had settled into the grooves. _Bleah._ Socks off, toes wiggling around. The cold metal floor felt good against the soles of his feet. He took off his backpack and emptied the contents of his pockets into it... knife, bag of caps, the contract. He eyed it again. _That little piece of paper... caused all this._ He carefully zipped it into a pocket in the pack. Took off his guns and set them in the corner, a splash of gore was on the end of his rifle. Charon had been fairly quiet this whole time, what wa-

He glanced over his shoulder to see what the ghoul was up to, and tried to keep his jaw from dropping. Charon was facing away and in the middle of stretching his arms behind his head. He had completely removed his armor and set aside the ever-present shotgun, and was now dressed in a form-fitting black shirt and a loose pair of ragged black pants. With his armor on, he looked bulky and powerful, with his armor off... he looked like a sculpture. A broad, toned back led down to a slim waist. His neck, shoulders, and upper and forearms were corded with thick muscle, and it didn't help that he was mid flex at the moment. He completed his stretch and drew off his shirt in a smooth motion. Lee hitched in a breath. _Fucking hell, he looks like a god._ His skin was more intact on his back, with only small patches of actual muscle tissue showing. He quickly snapped his head back and pretended to be checking his bag again. _Bah, I know he knows I keep staring at him. He's gotta be teasing me…_

The bed sank in behind him; Charon had sat on the other side. There were two sheets on the bed, and they had divided them up. Charon took his and curled up on his side. He could hear Lee's uneven breathing and smirked into his pillow. "Do I bother you?"

_Gah, fuck, he _is_ teasing me._ His mind raced and his skin prickled. After a suspiciously long time he finally mumbled, "No." Charon snorted softly and stretched out his legs. The bed was barely long enough for him. Lee finished screwing around with his bag, and took off his sun-faded shirt and brown chinos, stripped down to his shorts. He grabbed his blanket and turned off the light in the room. He lay down, careful not to bump into Charon. He sank into the soft pillow and bed, feeling his body relax. _Why. Why am I attracted to a smartass who thinks it's hilarious when I'm embarrassed_ he thought, exasperated. He could feel Charon's upper body moving in tiny measured jolts. _Is he laughing at me again?_ Lee cocked an elbow back and poked Charon with it, "Night, you fuckin' show-off ghoul." Charon huffed a laugh back at him.

"Goodnight, smoothskin."


	10. A Leap of Faith

Lee woke in the dark. He stared at where the ceiling would be, watching the swirls and blobs of trying to see in pitch black jerk and expand across his vision. He moved a hand out and touched Charon's back. _Hmmm, yes everyone's still here._ He closed his eyes again. A quiet growl in the dark:

"Awake?"

"Yeah. Just relaxing for a minute."

The bed lurched a little as Charon rolled over onto his back to lie beside Lee, arms behind his head. Lee felt a tingle run across his skin. _Need to stop reacting every time he's close to me... _They lay in silence for a few minutes. Lee was starting to fall back asleep in the warm darkness, until the bed moved again. Charon had rolled over and was now suspended over him, arms propping him up. Lee drew in a breath; now wide awake, but still unable to see anything. He could feel the bed sink in on either side of his head, and feel the presence of a body obstructing the space in front of him. His eyes stared at where he thought Charon's face would be.

"Charon...?" his voice had lost its strength.

The voice that replied was closer than he thought. In a deep rumble, "Hm? Sorry, thought I dropped something over here." His breath brushed against Lee's skin, making him shiver. Another slight movement and the presence dropped even further, now right beside his face. Lee's whole body tensed at the sensation of the soft breath against his ear and the vibration from the low voice. "You know..." an almost imperceptible chuckle, "out here, if you want something, you have to take it." After a long moment, the presence withdrew and Charon plopped back to sit on the edge of the bed. Rustling in the dark, probably looking for the rest of his clothes.

Lee resumed breathing, unaware he had stopped. _Take what I want, right._ Snatches of images flashed through his head as his heart rate got back under control. Running his hands over Charon's torn chest, lips locked together, digging his nails into soft skin... _Well, he seems… gleeful about it. So there's that._ He felt a little less tense about it. Charon had practically spelled it out for him, '_I'm fine with you, and now the ball is in your court_'. A bit more relaxed now, he rolled off the bed onto the floor and grabbed his watch to see what time it was. The radium hands glowed faintly in the dark... a little before 5AM.

"Hey, Charon... let's head up to the flight deck for a little bit. Leave your stuff, just throw on a shirt."

Mild surprise, "Alright."

They dressed in their shirts and pants in the dark, and Charon opened the hatch-style door. The ship felt like it was still asleep. The hallway was silent and dim, small lights were placed at intervals along the wall to illuminate the place. The old hull of the ship creaked and warm air from outside blew in through ventilation fans. They padded quietly through the maze-like halls, bare feet cold on the ground. Up to the stairwell, up through the guard area, up and up, and out to the topmost balcony of the bridge tower.

The deck below was a massive flat area, a huge group of ancient fighter jets standing in rows along the edge. Beyond that was a very high drop-off to the water below. The sky was grey, but brightening in the east, turning silver and shot with pink. Lee nudged Charon and nodded to a rung ladder attached to the side of the tower. It led up to the highest point on the ship.

At the top, Lee walked to the edge facing east and sat, legs dangling off. He looked back at Charon and patted the rusted steel beside him. Charon sat with a grunt, stretching his legs out in front of him then relaxing. The two looked at the horizon past the skeletal remains of the buildings of the city. Shimmery and foggy with distance and whatever gunk was still lingering in the atmosphere, the sun started to rise above the edge of the world. The clouds in the sky turned from grey to purple to orange and yellow, streaking the sky with color. The sun looked like a molten coin, ponderously rising up and burning everything around it. There was a blazing corona surrounding it, and everything was reflected in the water far below them. The entire wasteland was awash in golden light, metal and broken glass sparkling and shining. The sun continued rising, magnificence fading into the more normal pale blue sky.

Lee smiled. "That never gets old." He kicked his legs out and swung them back and forth lazily, watching the clouds melt and change shape as the sun rose higher and the wind picked up. "And besides maybe the Washington Monument, this is the best place to see it. For 19 years I'd never seen a sunrise or a sunset. I saw them in pictures only, never experienced one. Coming out here and just having a sky was strange enough, but this..." he trailed off. "I cried the first time I saw the sun set. I fell down in awe and tears poured down my face. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen."

"I lived in a dark cave my whole life, and out here there are so many incredible things." He swept a hand across the view. "It's not perfect. The land and water are poison, people die every day, there's a treasure trove of old world trinkets that could erase everything from existence. But it's beautiful. To live, to be one of the few people left that survived. To feel the road under your feet, the wind on your face, and to see the world all around you."

He stopped and leaned back and laughed. "That got kind of heavy, sorry." He felt a little shy now; that was a hell of a thing to say to someone he'd only met a few days ago. _But he's good, isn't he. We get along._ "I don't know how long you're gonna stick around with me, but I'm glad you're here."

Charon was still gazing across the water. He was thinking of his years and years of servitude at the hands of Ahzrukhal. And others. Countless others who only looked out for their own gain, and didn't care how much misery they inflicted on others, as long as they got what they wanted. Much of his life had been spent with this kind of person, and his outlook on life had been dragged down by them. Countless days had blended together in a blur. Obeying orders, killing people who may or may not have deserved it, and feeling furiously helpless that someone had erased what he knew of his past and given him this compulsion. To not be able to say no to whoever owned his contract. That piece of paper was his leash. It still existed, but this wiry kid was much different. He hadn't exercised his power at all. And it was painfully obvious he was attracted to the ghoul, but was too shy to do anything about it. Which Charon thought was hilarious, and flattering. How long since anyone had looked at him as something other than a weapon to be aimed and fired?

He felt nearly free, for the first time in decades. Still looking at the water he rumbled, "I understand what you mean. And I'm here as long as you want me."

Lee smiled sunnily and stood up, holding a hand out to Charon. Puzzled, he took it and let himself be pulled up. Seemingly out of nowhere, Lee asked, "Do you know how to swim?"

"Swim? ...Yes."

Already starting to climb down the ladder again, Lee beckoned to Charon and disappeared down the side of the bridge tower. He followed and they made it down to the main flight deck, the metal flooring already hot and glaring from the sun. Lee pointed at the corner of the deck that faced the halfway mark between the metro and the Jefferson Memorial. "Dare ya to run and jump off with me. Every time I come here I tell myself I'm gonna do it then I chicken out. Think a bath would be good for us anyway."

Charon laughed and shrugged. He pulled himself into the classic sprinter's position as an answer. Face serious now and mimicking Charon's pose, Lee counted, "Okay, one, two, three... GO!" They both surged forward, legs pumping, feet flying over the steel floor. It was about 50 feet to the edge and they both tried to pull ahead of the other. The race was even in the end, and they leapt off the edge into the warm air in synch. Lee let out a loud "Wooooooo!" as he fell through the air; vaguely hoping poor Harkness wasn't watching and having a heart attack. They fell down past the side of the ship and crashed into the cool water below. Sinking under, and letting buoyancy carry them back to the surface.

They wiped the water from their eyes and treaded the water. Lee caught a glimpse of a helmeted head peeking over the rail at the far away boat entrance, probably trying to find the source of the commotion. He waved and it retreated, appearing to shake from side to side.

"Hhhhaaaaaaa… that was pretty fun. Definitely worth smelling like a river for a few days." He floated away toward the shallows on his back for a moment, and then glanced over at the ghoul who was still just waiting and treading water, looking bored. Lee curved his hand and playfully scooped a small sheet of water at Charon. He was rewarded with a scary look from Charon, who then sank under the murky water and vanished. Lee looked around nervously, scanning the water. A moment later there was a hard yank on his right leg. Lee hollered and thrashed around, but got pulled under after a brief struggle. He felt strong hands grab him around the waist and then he was hauled up and tossed back toward the ship. He yelled as he flew through the air and landed with a huge splash. When he surfaced again, Charon was copying him from earlier, floating serenely on his back with his eyes closed. Shouting from relative safety:

"Okay I get it! Don't mess with the big scary ghoul!"

Still drifting, Charon opened an eye and winked at Lee, then rolled over and swam for shore. Slogging up the small incline, Charon's wet clothes clung to his body, and Lee stealthily ogled him from the river. After a while of swimming back and forth and enjoying the water, he followed Charon up to the base of a huge statue by the water, where the ghoul had stretched out in the sun. Lee flopped down next to him and leaned against the plinth.

"Too bad the closest thing Megaton has to this is a half-foot deep irradiated pool with a bomb in it."

Charon wiggled his toes and leaned his foot against his knee. "Yeah, can't have everything."

They relaxed in the sun until their clothes had dried, watching people coming and going and then headed back up to Rivet City. The guard on duty gave them a funny look and seemed to want to ask what they'd been doing sleeping on the riverbank for the past hour.

They collected all the gear from the hotel room, said 'bye to Vera and Harkness, and headed out again. As they walked, Lee turned over in his head what Charon had said to him that morning... _if you want something, you have to take it._


	11. Trouble From Above

Before they left, Lee had grabbed his PipBoy and plotted out a route home. It would probably be two days walk unless they ran into something horrible. Which was completely possible. They had to head north, and cross the huge Potomac River at some point. Jumping in the shallows on a warm day in a T-shirt was one thing, trying to swim across the entire span in one go with all your equipment was another. There were, thankfully, still a few intact bridges along the way, though they had their own perils. People seemed to like booby-trapping them or using them as hideouts.

The road wound past a long row of ruined buildings, what used to be stores and businesses. Lee was holding his rifle propped over his shoulder, occasionally looking through the scope at anything that looked like a potential threat or just anything interesting. He spotted what looked like a weird hive of twisted metal, and then the hulking yellow-skinned mutants pacing around it. _Yikes._ "Let's... walk over here," he angled away from the ruins and back toward the river bank. Charon glanced curiously at what he was trying to avoid.

"Not the bloodthirsty type, huh."

Lee pondered that as he walked through the squelchy river mud. "No, I guess not. If I can stay away from trouble, might as well. It's healthier in the long run." They ascended the Jefferson Memorial's metal walkway and headed for the far side. _Probably leave him alone for now, bet he and Dr. Li are really busy with their science crap._ "Besides, ammo and repairs for this thing get expensive," he said, tapping his gun. "It's a lovely thing but not a cheap date."

Lee looked across the water and saw the squat shape of the Brotherhood of Steel's headquarters. _Bunch of stuck-up tin cans._ The Brotherhood members he'd met had been dismissive and arrogant, especially that Sarah girl and her squad. His jaw tightened at the memory of that stupid situation.

The walkway led to a small access bridge, and then continued on to the road again. They rounded a corner and saw a long straight path right along the water. Yet more buildings and rubble lined the sidewalk... and there was the bridge they needed. Lee looked through his scope down the long path and saw nothing important. He swung it to face the bridge. Nothing there. He focused on the far side. There. Raiders using the bridge supports as a shelter. _Well, we'll have to pass there eventually._ He paused and crouched down, lining up a shot on the raider nearest the river. _One less to deal with when we get there..._ The report echoed over the water, and Charon turned back with a questioning look on his face.

"Some raiders. We gotta use their bridge in a second."

They kept going, up to the base of the bridge, then doubling back to get to the road that led up to it. There was a metro further down, and a long empty street. It was kind of eerie. Lee looked back as they walked, feeling like something was going to run out and charge them, or like he'd see a face poke up out of one of the shattered windows. But there was nothing, just stone and rubble. Their footsteps echoed back from the far end, sounding ghostly.

They walked up the sloping road, and then Lee heard something that made his hair stand on end. An ugly muddy voice rising in a shout behind him:

"Yaaaaah! Human! Now try and hide from this!"

_Shit. There _was _something there, above us._ He turned around as the shout began and saw a mutant with a hunting rifle and an even bigger one with a missile launcher standing on an overpass connecting two buildings. His heart leapt at the sight, and a wave of coldness ran over his body. _There's no way we can get out of this._ The brute took aim and fired, the missile heading right for him. He dodged as best he could, and avoided being directly struck by it, but it crashed into the bridge divider right behind him and exploded. The sound was deafening and the entire world momentarily turned a blinding white. He yelled out, trying to warn Charon, who had been walking behind him. In a delirious thought he prayed to the god of big guns, _make that missile launcher jam, don't let him get off a shot at Charon._ He felt the blast of warmth from the explosion, then pain, and then he crumpled to the ground as his vision blacked out.

...

...

...


	12. While You Were Out

...

...

...

Lee groggily awoke to the wavery sight of a high ceiling made of brick. Everything looked too bright and black spots and whirls erupted across his field of vision. _Ugh._ He gave up and shut his eyes again; the darkness was better. His head thumped and pounded and felt like it was a few sizes too big. He was lying still, but felt as if his body was detached from his head and everything was being forcefully jerked around._ I'm on a couch... where. Why does it sound like water rushing... _The memory of what happened suddenly slammed into him and he wrenched in a loud breath. His eyes shot open despite the discomfort. _The mutant with the missile launcher! Charon!_ He struggled to sit up and was rewarded with a horrendous surge of dizziness and nausea.

"Hey! Easy," a familiar voice grated.

Lee's head swung toward the voice, eyes squinted almost shut. "Charon... you're okay," he said with relief. The ghoul had been sitting on a step stool a few feet away cleaning his gun. His armor looked singed on one side, and there were bandages wrapped around his arm. He got up and walked over to Lee, sitting on the ground next to the couch.

Lee relaxed and lay back, stretching a hand out to Charon. Wanting to feel some reassurance that both of them were fine. His hand was engulfed by Charon's larger one, and they sat there together for a while.

After a time, Lee opened his eyes and rolled his head to face Charon. "My face hurts, how bad is it?" he asked, wrinkling his forehead and squinching his eyes, testing the restrictive feel of scratches on his skin.

Charon looked solemn. "Well, you were ugly before, I dunno what you're gonna do now."

Lee burst out laughing, before wincing and trying to relax his face again. "Ahaa.. ..ow. Fuck you, Charon," still smiling a little. "What happened after I got knocked out? I yelled... something at you and then… nothing." His eyebrows drew together in an annoyed expression. "Can't even take a missile to the face."

Charon hmphed at him, "You just want to take it easy and make me carry you everywhere. I see what's going on."

Lee rolled his eyes weakly, hating the sore rubbery feel of his eye sockets. "Go on, what happened. How'd you get away? And how long have I been out?"

Charon began speaking and Lee closed his eyes and listened to the gravelly sound of his voice.

The mutant had screamed and fired the missile launcher, missing Lee, but hitting a short wall of concrete right next to him. The thing had shattered, sending bits of concrete flying along with the shards of metal from the spent case. Lee had been engulfed in a cloud of stone dust, shrapnel, and a bloom of fire and smoke, and then crashed to the ground. Charon had charged up after him immediately, drawing his shotgun off his back and pointing it backwards at the overpass. _Get him. Get out of here._ He couldn't tell if Lee was alive or dead just from looking at him, it had been a horrific blast.

He glanced back to quickly assess what they were up against. A rifle-toting mutant and the one with the missile launcher. They had a good position up there. _Good thing it's a one shot per reload or this would be it._ He aimed right at the launcher mutant, who was busy chambering a new missile into his weapon. _This isn't going to do much so far away, but it'll slow him down,_ he thought, and fired, still sprinting for the crumpled body lying on the ramp. He re-holstered his gun and felt a tiny bit of grim satisfaction when he heard the mutant scream; he was probably going to spend the next week picking buckshot out of his skin.

He stooped and grabbed Lee around the waist, hauling him up and flopping him over his shoulder. The rifle mutant had been firing the entire time, and was apparently a terrible shot. But he got lucky once; Charon felt a hot sting sink itself into the back of his arm. Charon barked out a grunt of pain, and jogged up the ramp, trying not to jolt Lee too much. He heard the _fssshhh _noise of another missile being fired, and ran even harder. It exploded into the road behind him, and he felt the expansion of air push him forward, and the heat of the reaction toasted the leg and back of his armor. Still running, he made it around the corner of a billboard and to relative safety. _No line of sight, if they stay there. They might come look for us though, keep moving._

Charon continued along the bridge, and stopped about half-way, crouching behind a burnt-out car to examine the damage. He shifted Lee forward, and set him down, back propped against the car door. His usually sharp features were now slack and softened, and he had several gashes on his face. His head was a mess of blood, but that could be deceiving, if the head got cut it bled a lot. Charon held two fingers under the shelf of Lee's jaw, feeling for a pulse. _Slow, but he's alive._ Unaware he had been so worried; the magnitude of the relief that swept through him was a little surprising. He brushed Lee's hair out of his face and tilted his head back. The eyes were rolled back; small crescents of the whites could be seen. _Yeah, he's out for a while._ Charon picked him up again, grimacing at the feel of the bullet still lodged in his arm. _Can't do anything about that now._

He headed down the broken end of the bridge and cleared out the raiders that remained there. They were skinny, mongrel-looking people; drugged out and wild looking. Three shots and they were all gone. This side of the bridge had a sort of shelter built into it; the raiders had been using it as a place to live. Bunk beds, a radio, trunks of stuff. He laid Lee on a not-quite-filthy couch and unceremoniously dumped the raiders' bodies outside.

He looked through Lee's pack and grabbed some water, alcohol, and an old scrap of T-shirt and cleaned up the vaultie's wounds as best he could. Most of the damage was superficial; light scratches, abrasions, and weak burns. There was one deep scratch across his cheek that came dangerously close to his eye, and a section of his hair had been burnt short. He might have a concussion too, Charon thought. As he finished wiping a cut that was still oozing blood, Lee groaned and moved his hands weakly. He was trying to push himself up and talk, but it was pretty clear he was still mostly unconscious. His whole body was shaking, and as Charon moved to push him back down he felt that his skin was startlingly cold and clammy. Lee wasn't putting up much of a fight, but he was still trying to either get up or crawl away across the floor. Charon frowned. _Well, one way to fix both of these._

He grabbed a pack of bandages and the rest of the alcohol and water and sat carefully on Lee's abdomen so he couldn't scuttle away. _This is ridiculous._ Charon awkwardly poured the alcohol on the back of his left arm, rinsed it with water, and wrapped the strips of cloth tightly around it. _Hurts like a bitch but good enough for now_. He glanced out around the bridge area, nothing there. Lee was still wriggling intermittently and making sad whimpering noises, like he was having a nightmare. Charon stood up, releasing him, this time letting him partially stand up_. Is he a sleep walker or something? I've never seen this kind of reaction to getting a concussion._ Before he could walk away, Charon set his shotgun on the ground and wrapped his arms around Lee and backed them both up into the couch. He lay down on his back, leaving Lee propped up on his chest. _No blankets, but body heat should be good enough... and now he can't move._ He grabbed a pillow and put it behind his neck, and waited. Lee eventually stopped trying to get away, and his shivering subsided. His body finally relaxed and he began to draw the deep, slow breaths of sleep. Charon smirked at the ceiling, his hands resting on Lee's shoulders, arms crossed over his chest. _Well, this would be nice if he wasn't knocked out and having weird nightmares. _They rested there for the remainder of the day and the night.

"And now you're awake."

During the story, Lee had managed to sit up and his head was feeling a little better. His vision was mostly back to normal, and he'd drunk a bottle of water while Charon was talking. "So you blasted some muties in the face, picked me up as dead weight, ran across a bridge with a bullet in your arm, killed three raiders with a person slung over your shoulder, cleaned up my face, and held me back when I got all weird?"

Charon nodded.

"Maaaan." Lee leaned back and puffed air through his cheeks. "You're a tank, that's amazing." Charon looked embarrassed again; he rested his chin in his hand and looked at the wall. Lee reached out and touched his shoulder. "Thank you. You put yourself at risk to save me, thanks," he smiled wearily. Charon shrugged and nodded. His contract required it of him, but he felt that he would have done it anyway. Lee was alright.

"...And you have a bullet in your arm, so let's take care of that." He straightened up and shook his hair back. "I have no idea what I'm doing."

Charon considered for a moment, "I cleaned the wound; you just need something to pull the slug out. A pair of tweezers or forceps would be ideal, but your knife would work. It shouldn't be deep, it went through my armor first." He started undoing his buckles, and removed the top of the armor. He peeled his shirt off and waited as Lee rooted around in his pack.

"Swear I pick up the most random pieces of junk. Your lucky day, Charon." He held up a slim metal instrument and sat back down on the couch. "Alright..." he trailed away as he saw the expanse of Charon's bare skin again. _Hmph._ "...Let's do this while it's still light out." Charon sat in front of him on the ground and rolled his shoulder forward, bringing his elbow back and resting the huge arm on Lee's knee to bring the entry point up at a good angle.

"Sorry if this hurts."

"Oh, it's gonna hurt." Charon took a big gulp of the whiskey he'd been using as an antiseptic, and handed it back to Lee. "Rinse off the tweezers with that, and then go ahead. Bandage the arm up when it's out and we're done."


	13. Contact

Lee's fantasy of getting to touch and examine Charon's skin was kind of dampened by the fact that he was expected to perform surgery, right here, right now. _Oh well._ His dad had been a damn good doctor, but Lee had never really picked up on any of his more medical skills. _Shouldn't be too hard though, I have steady enough hands. And he's right, it's not in there too far. _He inspected the ragged hole. _Should be perfectly... freaking disastrous._ He drew in a breath and eased the tips of the tweezers into the wound. The slug was a twisted and partially flattened chunk of metal. The bullet was flush with the meat of Charon's arm; he would have to stretch the sides to get the tweezers around the actual thing. He pressed closer and the jaws of the tweezers made a soft *clink* against the slug. He eased up on his grip and the jaws widened, pressing into the oozing muscle tissue. _Fuck. This is horrible._ Charon sensed his tenseness.

"Relax. Not a big deal." he growled, glancing back.

_What, not a big deal, it's only a bullet lodged in your freaking ARM. _Lee just nodded and tried to relax his body a little. He eased the tweezers down past the sides of the bullet, and applied a tiny bit of pressure. The blood was slippery, and the jaws weren't grabbing on the metal. He pressed a little harder, and the slug tilted and snapped sideways, tweezers squirting off the surface. Charon let out a low hiss.

"Agh, sorry, sorry. It's, uh, really slick in here."

The bullet had turned so that a flat edge was showing. He carefully placed the jaws around the edge, and with constant pressure, drew the slug out. It made a gross sucking sound as it exited the wound completely, and Lee felt a feeling of triumph surge through him.

"Haha! Victory!" he cried, dramatically slamming the slug onto the ground.

Charon grunted at him in a laugh, "Good job."

Lee grabbed a bottle of water and a fresh roll of bandages to flush and wrap the hole that remained. Now that the crisis was over, he let his fingers drift over the section of skin on Charon's arm, on the pretense of checking the bullet wound. It was still feverishly hot, and felt firmer than human skin, almost like leather. It was surprisingly soft, though, and very smooth where it was intact. He grabbed the bandages and hastily started wrapping the puncture, to hide the fact that he was feeling up the ghoul's arm. Charon's shoulders were shaking minutely again. Lee mentally groaned. _I can't get anything past him._

He could hear the laugh in Charon's voice when he said, "Go ahead."

He finished the bandage, tying it in place. His thoughts were racing, _do I want to? Yes, of course, you idiot. But do I dare to touch him? He told you to, just do it, stop being a little bitch._ Lee's fingers moved over the torn skin; soft, and then rough as the skin gave way to muscle and tendon. He ran both hands over Charon's neck and arms, feeling the bulging musculature and tracing the areas where muscle groups connected. "How do you stay so... in shape?" he asked, trying to think of better phrasing than How do you keep yourself looking like a destroyer-god incarnate? Charon had been incredibly helpful to him, but Lee was still intimidated by his physique, his unknown origins, his general air of danger, and his shortness of speech, to name a few.

"Good genes," he paused, looking past a pillar out to the river beyond. The sensation of being touched like this felt foreign it had been so long; it was distracting. "Plus, the kinds of people that normally come into possession of my contract need a lot of killing done. It's usually hard work." Charon tilted his head side to side, and cracked his neck. Lee hesitantly changed his pressure and squeezed the shoulders, feeling the wire-tight tension begin to loosen a little. Charon groaned and let his body relax, slumping forward and resting his elbows on his knees.

Lee smiled at the reaction and continued rubbing and kneading. Neck_, I don't quite dare to try to touch his hair_, shoulders, upper arms, shoulder blades, spine, sides. They sat there for a while, listening to the water rush by and the wind blow through the bridge supports.

_Wonder if he'll tell me something._ "Sorry if this sounds... weird or stupid, but..." he stopped, maybe this was going too far. _I have no idea what's off-limits for ghouls. He's going to ask, now, I should have thought that out a little better,_ he thought, cringing.

"Hm?"

"Ugh, it sounds so crude, I apologize in advance. What did it feel like to turn... into a ghoul?" he winced at the way it sounded. _All with customary tact and wit. _"Before I went to Underworld, I'd only spoken with, I think, two ghouls. Every other one I've seen has been feral." He took a breath. Charon hadn't stiffened or pulled away, so that was a good sign. "I just don't have any experience. With ghouls. So, I'm curious. Sorry."

"I don't know if you should ask other ghouls about that, some get kind of sensitive. They remember being human and they look at what they are now. They get depressed." He rolled his shoulders and looked down again. His voice deepened, "Personally, I don't remember it too well. When my contract came into being, many of my memories were erased. I suppose you didn't talk to Ahzrukhal long enough to hear about it, he loved trotting out the story to anyone who asked about me." He took a breath. "I was part of an experiment up in the Commonwealth. Brainwashing and triggers for controlling people. My trigger is my contract."

Lee thought of the paper tucked in his shirt pocket, and felt oddly embarrassed. _It's a tool for controlling a thinking person, this thing shouldn't exist._ He felt a dull thud of anger at whoever would think doing something like this was a good idea. "I told you this before, but I am bound to serve whoever holds it. It might just be paper, but it is a shackle. Ghouls live a long time; that paper has been passed to many different people over the years," he raised his head again, and slowly shook it back and forth. "Got off topic. I don't remember turning very well, I just recall a feeling of horror. It doesn't hurt, but it is unnerving to watch the body you knew all your life turn into... well, _this_." He raised his arms and looked at the peeling skin and rough bunches of muscle before squeezing his fists shut and lowering them again.

Lee felt dazed. He had stopped the massage during the explanation, and was resting his hands on Charon's back. "I'm sorry for bringing it up. But thank you for telling me." Charon nodded.

After a minute, he leaned forward and wrapped his arms around the huge shoulders, hands ending up on Charon's chest. Feeling nervous, he turned his head toward Charon's neck and pressed a kiss into the skin there. He felt his scalp tingle at the contact and heard a nearly inaudible growl come from Charon. It felt wonderful. So he did it again, higher up. Lips brushing across the corded throat, right hand coming up to touch the other side of Charon's jaw. Charon turned toward him, following the pressure from Lee's hand with an amused, expectant look on his face.

_Okay._ He leaned forward, their faces now inches away. Charon's eyes danced with held-in laughter. _Pfff. He doesn't think I'm gonna do it. _Lee closed the distance and pressed his lips firmly against Charon's. His lips burned and face warmed and a slow tingle traveled over his skin where they touched. He broke away and kissed him again, gently, on the corner of the mouth. _It's a start._

"Alright, Charon," He grinned at the ghoul's now thoughtful expression. "Let's get some sleep here and we can make it home tomorrow, not far now." Dusk had fallen over the course of Charon's story, and it was nearly pitch black now. There was faint light from the moon and stars, but they were far from any kind of man-made illumination. Lee stared into the dark, almost unable to see again.

Charon stood and glanced around at their surroundings. "We're not safe here, I'll keep watch." The area they were in was sheltered, but still open to the wastes, no doors or walls to speak of. And mirelurks had a bad tendency of sneaking up on people wandering around unknown waters.

"You really don't need to sleep?"

"Rest is nice, but no, I can go for a week or two without feeling any serious strain from it."

Lee shrugged. If he didn't need it, someone to keep watch would be good. "Will you sit with me then?" he asked, patting the end of the couch next to him. "Getting cold out."

"Alright." Charon put his shirt and armor back on, and retrieved his shotgun from the floor; laying it across his legs as he sank into the cushion. Lee swiveled around and leaned his back against Charon's arm. He wiggled until Charon got the hint and moved his arm out of the way, and then lay against his chest.

"This isn't the best position for dealing with an ambush, y'know," Charon grumbled, looking down at Lee's upturned face and holding his arm aloft.

"Hey, I have every confidence in you." He grabbed Charon's hand and brought it down over his chest, feeling the warmth from his skin engulf him. Charon rolled his eyes and squeezed Lee in a partial hug, setting in to wait for dawn. "Night, Charon." He closed his eyes and, after a while, slept.


	14. The Past

The walk the next morning was pleasantly uneventful. A cool, damp breeze was blowing in from the water and the sky was covered in clouds. The road followed the river for a few miles and would then head inland to point them back to Megaton. Lee figured they could get back before sunset and jokingly suggested they get hammered at Gob's bar as celebration for making it back alive. Charon replied relatively enthusiastically, which gave Lee a moment of pause. _Welllll, oops. That will be fun._

"Have you ever been to Megaton?" Lee asked.

"It's been a long time, but yes. ...And _Gob's_ bar?"

_Hmm, that's right._ His encounter with Colin Moriarty, the previous owner, had been kind of ugly. When he left the vault, Lee had wandered into Megaton and began the first step of his long search for his father. He was eventually pointed towards Moriarty, the owner of a sprawling bar situated right at the top of Megaton, overlooking the rest of the city. Moriarty had been condescending, manipulative, and cruel, which was disguised behind a thin veneer of chumminess. Lee had reluctantly chosen to do Colin a favor in exchange for info on where James had gone, but when he found who he was looking for, he changed his mind in a hurry. Colin had sent him to find a woman named Silver who owed him money. Simple enough. Silver was a skinny, scared-looking girl who had been living in a shack in a tiny abandoned town next to Megaton. She explained that she had taken the money because it was hers, and that Colin was cheating his employees, extorting them nearly to the point of slavery.

Lee had left her alone, and over the next few weeks observed Colin's behavior. He hung out at the bar and got to know Nova and Gob, the last two people unlucky enough to be stuck working for Moriarty. They worked for him, but their pay was so little, and the cost of their food and rent was subtracted from that pay, so they actually ended up owing Colin money. He eventually found out from Gob that Moriarty kept tabs on everyone in Megaton, visitors and residents alike, and that he kept all his records on a terminal in the back of the bar. _Well._ His surveillance of Moriarty had shown that he was twice the asshole everyone thought he was; not officially a slaver but close enough, and now, with the info Lee wanted in hand, he was expendable.

The solution to his problem dropped into his lap one day as Lee went exploring around the Megaton area. He had been walking out past the huge rusted wall of the town, and had heard a loud thunk in the earth beside him. A hole was there. A few seconds later, a louder metallic thunk and a hole appeared in the metal wall beside him. Suddenly alarmed, he dove behind a rock, and drew his 10mm, hoping for the assailant to either give up or come closer to try to finish him. Whatever weapon the person was using sounded powerful but really slow. If they came up close, Lee could probably dodge around and take him out. He waited in the shadow of the rock, straining his ears for any kind of noise, heart pounding and sweat starting to break out on his forehead. There, a quiet crunching was approaching around the right side of the rock. Lee tensed, waiting for the perfect moment to surprise whoever was coming. Before the person emerged, Lee quietly snuck the other way around the rock, circling behind the shooter. Three shots to the torso and back of the head, and the man dropped, collapsing in the dust. Feeling sickened, killing another person was still brand new to him, he nudged the body over with his foot. A blonde guy in leather armor and a pair of sunglasses; an angry snarl frozen onto his staring face. And a huge black rifle clutched in his arms. Lee picked up the gun, momentarily freaked out at the feel of the resistance of the dead man's hands on it. After the initial gross-out, he was immediately enamored with the gun. The rifle was heavy, but the weight was solid, reassuring. The sun glinted off the lens in the scope, and shone down the long barrel. He pulled the gun up against his shoulder and looked through the scope, the background scenery leaping out at him. Feeling very done with exploring for the day, he turned and went back home.

The next night, Lee had climbed up onto the roof of his house toting his new treasure. He sat on the ledge facing the center of town, looking at the glowing lights from signs and the few people still wandering around. He sighted with the rifle scope and casually checked out the surrounding buildings. Walter puttering around outside the water plant, Jericho stumbling home probably drunk, and... _ah._ Colin Moriarty leaning over the rail in front of the saloon. Completely alone. Lee leaned back and balanced the rifle barrel on his knee. Moriarty's face looked huge in the crosshairs, glaring down at the city. His focus narrowed down to a point, and a soft roaring started up in his ears, blanking out every other sound. Gob, Nova, and Silver floated through his mind. He squeezed the trigger.

It was hard going to the bar the next day and pretending he knew nothing about it.

Lee shook his head, returning from his thoughts. Charon gave him a questioning look. "Yeah, Gob's bar. The other guy had a uh, accident..." he trailed off, squeezing his rifle without knowing it. "Gob took over." Charon raised an eyebrow, but continued walking without asking about it. He'd met Colin a few times, and it looked like what he'd been up to had finally caught up to him.

The sun was nearly overhead now, and they were approaching what looked like a large dock. A short boardwalk, a shack, and many tables and chairs arranged overlooking the river.

"Wanna stop here for lunch? The lady's nice." Lee raised a hand in greeting at Grandma Sparkle, who had turned to watch them. Charon shrugged and nodded. Lee bartered for some food, and they walked to the far side of the dock and sat down on one of the piers. As they ate, they watched the river flowing by, the endlessly circling birds, and the heavy cloud cover moving sluggishly across the sky.

"Tell me something about you, Charon," Lee said, still chewing. "Something I don't know."

Charon appeared to think, brow scrunching up. He rested his chin on his palm and stared at the reflections of the clouds rippling across the water. "What little I can remember of my past is ugly. I think..." he paused for a minute, looking pensive. "I think when I was human, I lived in the New York area, up north of here. That was one of the areas that got the worst of it in the war. New York, D.C., California, Alaska," he added, ticking the names off on his fingers.

The names sounded exotic and old. Pieces of the past that once existed, forever ago. Lee waited to see if Charon would venture anything else, drawing his knees up and wrapping his arms around his legs.

"I've always been, well, a killer. A mercenary, bodyguard, hired gun. One of my few memories from before the war was working for rich men in expensive suits wearing gaudy jewelry. Dim, smoky rooms; illegal business being done. I was a gun for hire then, and I still am, in a manner of speaking.

"Not that I mind it, it's what I'm good at, and it feels good to use your talent. I just have no control over who I work for, now. And there have been plenty of bad people, human and ghoul alike. I'm lucky, you know," he turned his head slightly to look at Lee out of the corner of a pale eye. "You're the easiest boss I've had in decades."

Lee hmphed a laugh at that, smiling into his knees. "You know, at the Ninth Circle, when I saw you working there you reminded me of a pissed-off animal in a cage."

"I was," Charon said simply. "Ahzrukhal was an evil bastard, but it's possible to put aside my personal moral code for my employer. The worst part of working for him was the boredom. I stood in that corner every day for twenty-two years. The only relief I got from it was when he would send me out every month for four or five days to pick up a delivery or scare some poor jerk who didn't pay up quick enough. Which I took advantage of. Those breaks were the only thing keeping me sane."

"Well, good thing he stole a bag of caps from the wrong skinny vault kid then, huh?" Lee wiggled an eyebrow at him.

Charon smirked and rolled his eyes, "Yes."

Lee chewed on his lip and turned to look at Charon. "The sleeping thing… is that normal? For ghouls, I mean. As far as I know, Gob sleeps just as much as I do."

Charon heaved a sigh. "No, it's not normal. I get nightmares sometimes. I can't usually remember what they're about, but I have to assume it's stuff from the Commonwealth labs. I wake up disoriented with my heart aching, getting ready to scream. I sleep less so it happens less, is all."

They stuck around for a while, watching the clouds sail by with their wavery doppelgangers in the water. Lee stood and stretched his arms up over his heads, arm bones cracking and feet stretched up en pointe. He stuck out a hand at Charon to help him up. "Let's keep moving." Charon took the proffered hand and stood, his huge presence overwhelming Lee again. He shivered. _It's so easy to forget how big he is when he's sitting..._ Lee kept hold of his hand for an extra second, staring at his chest and arms and letting his darker gaze drift up to the pale blue eyes. "Yes," he said.

Charon raised an eyebrow.

"To answer your question, yes, you bother the hell out of me."


	15. Super Duper Monster

They had only been walking for about half an hour when Lee noticed strange movement up ahead. They were walking under an old ruin of an overpass, and the Super Duper Mart was in the distance. In the far-off parking lot he could see an unfamiliar shape. It was tall, taller than a mutant, and was walking with an odd, loping gait. And the shape seemed... wrong, but it was too far to see clearly. Thoroughly alarmed, he tapped Charon's shoulder and said in a hushed voice, "Wait. Something's up there." Lee pulled out his rifle and looked down the scope. He had no explanation for what he saw. The thing's head had pale eyes, curved horns, long jagged teeth, and a jutting jaw. It walked upright, but hunched over; with powerful-looking legs and long bandy arms that ended in foot-long claws._ It looks like a demon._

Completely unnerved, he motioned for Charon to take a look through the rifle. "What is that thing?" Charon sidled up next to Lee and looked through the eye-piece; he drew in a deep breath. _Oh good lord, what now..._

"That is a deathclaw. It's probably best if we don't... draw… " he trailed off.

"What?" Lee hissed.

"It's noticed us."

"Well, what then?! Shoot it or run?" he focused back on the monster, which was now running toward them with bounding leaps. _Those claws look like they'd rip you to shreds._

"It's too fast. Shoot it in the leg if you can, you don't want it jumping at you."

_Easy peasy if it wasn't RUNNING!_ He aimed at the legs, trying to go for the thick part of the thigh. It was only about 100 feet away now. He took a shot and missed.

"Firing!" Charon yelled, and began to walk toward the charging deathclaw.

_Shit!_ Lee hissed and lined up another shot. Drew a deep breath, squeezed the trigger. _Hah!_ A huge hole appeared in the dead center of the thing's right thigh. The deathclaw's face didn't seem capable of expression, but it still appeared shocked as the leg collapsed under it and the monster spilled sideways onto the asphalt. It had gotten very close in the few seconds it was running, and the thing slid near to where Charon was walking. He approached the deathclaw and aimed at the head. *bam!* *ch-cht* *bam!* The head disintegrated into a cloud of blood and paste. Lee felt a weird swoop of deja vu. _I heard that exact noise when... I was falling asleep. He went to talk to..._

He joined Charon, standing next to the headless corpse. The huge scaly body was still, blood still energetically pumping from the space where a neck should have been. Lee looked at it with a sick satisfaction, heart still pounding uncomfortably. "When you fixed my ankle and I fell asleep back in Underworld... You went and killed Ahzrukhal, didn't you."

"Yes," he rumbled, still looking at the body.

"Good." Lee poked the deathclaw's leg with his foot. It was massive and heavy. And very dead. "Let's get going before we run into a 50 foot tall yao guai or something. I'm done with this."

"Of course."

They walked up to and past the ancient grocery store, cars littering the lot like empty bug husks. A distant water tower on the hill ahead was the marker Lee had been looking for.

"There, up that hill, past that tower and we're home. Can't wait to just sit for a good while." Lee's feet were dragging.

Charon smirked, "Tired already?"

Lee craned his head around and peered at the ghoul, "You're kidding, right?"

Charon's smirk widened into a gleeful smile. "Nope." He crouched and transferred his shotgun to his hand. "Come on, you're going too slow."

Trying to keep the surprise off his face, Lee hopped on his back, and Charon started jogging up the long hill. Charon laughed into the wind as Lee muttered "Fuckin' show-off ghouls."


	16. Home

Smutty smut warning in the last third of the chapter

* * *

Lee took a deep breath as he unlocked the door to his house and stepped in. The smell and feel of the empty unlived-in house was always one of the things he looked forward to when he came home from trips. No breath had disturbed its air for the three weeks he'd been gone, and it was dim, cool, and silent. He unbuckled his pack and gear and tossed everything on the floor. Coming home and getting to just throw aside all the survival gear was a nice feeling. He turned to look at Charon, who was still lurking in the doorway, examining the room. Charon looked amused.

"It looks like you have half the Arlington Library in here," he said.

Lee crossed to the switch plate and flipped the switch, soft yellow light filling the room and illuminating makeshift bookshelves lining the walls and stacks of books, holotapes, and magazines on the floor. "Yeeaaah, maybe not half, but those scribes hanging out there weren't too happy with me swiping all their research material." He ran a hand over the spines of a row of books, righting one that had fallen. "Not much to do when I'm here, just sleep and eat, so I started collecting every salvageable book, tape, and film I could find." Lee turned and started walking upstairs, calling back down "Put your stuff anywhere."

Pulling the door shut behind him, Charon crossed to a small workbench and propped his shotgun against the metal frame. He stretched his arms and examined one of the shelves. Newspapers, several proclaiming simply "War Declared!" in bold letters as the headline; holotape recordings of old movies; magazines with ragged edges and faded pictures. _I should remember some of these... but nothing._ He shrugged and leaned against the locker on the wall; listening to the ceiling creak as Lee walked around upstairs. His feet finally appeared again, coming back down.

"Wellp, everything's how I left it."

"Good. So how about that trip to the bar you were talking about?"

Lee groaned, "Nooooo, I was hoping you forgot." He clumped the rest of the way down the stairs and ran a hand through his hair, making it stick up in crazy spikes. "Go easy on me, okay. I'm not a big drinker," he said with a grimace.

Charon laughed and pushed away from the locker, "Not a chance."

The town was silent, but as they approached Gob's Saloon, as it is now called, shouts and singing could be heard, along with laughter and the clinking of bottles and glasses. Since Moriarty had left, the place had become a big hotspot for drinking and partying at night. The now-relaxed atmosphere brought in plenty of people, both local and visitors. _Amazing what getting rid of a bartender rumored to piss in his stills will do for business._ Lee pulled open the door and walked in, a blast of noise and warm air greeting him. He made his way over to the bar, pushing past a few patrons. Gob turned and noticed him.

"Mouse!" he exclaimed, a smile lighting up his ragged face. "Hey! You're back! Drinks are on me tonight, how did your trip go?" Lee grinned and raised a hand in greeting; then watched Gob's face turn from happy to shocked as he noticed who was following Lee. Gob's mouth dropped open. "Charon?"

Lee felt Charon's presence behind him now, and could hear the smirk in his voice when he nodded and replied, "Gob."

"Hah!" Gob ran around the bar and catapulted himself into Charon, wrapping his arms around Charon's waist. "Are you here with Mouse?"

Charon, looking slightly embarrassed, delicately patted Gob on the back and answered, "Yes." He glanced at Lee, who had turned to watch them, and made a _well, what can I do_ face at him.

"Yess! Amazing!" He gave Charon a final squeeze and walked back around to the bartender side of the bar. He looked like he was trying not to dance and jump around. Lee gave Gob a quizzical look. "Ah, Charon didn't mention me, huh?" he said, falling back into a more relaxed attitude. "No surprise. I'm sure he's still the stony, silent-as-the-grave guy he always was, right." Lee snorted at that and Gob nodded and continued. "When I still lived in Underworld he was like a big brother to Patches and me. His 'free time' when he came back from errands, he'd come hang out with us, tell us about where he'd been and what he'd seen, try to teach us how to shoot. Well, me anyway, I'm sure if you've met Patches, you know you don't want him anywhere near a firearm." Lee burst out laughing.

Gob smiled. "So. That's great news, what can I get you two?"

"A whiskey," Charon rumbled. Gob searched under the bar for a bottle and Lee remembered he had a message for Gob.

"Oh yeah, Gob. Carol says she's really happy you're doing well, and that she misses you and to be careful."

Gob reappeared with the bottle and handed it over with a smile. "That's great. Since I've got Nova to help out around here now, maybe I could take some time off and go see her sometime... It's been years."

Charon took the offered bottle and spun the cap off, taking a huge gulp. Lee stared at him._ Oh man, this is going to be a long night if he thinks I'm gonna match him._ He shot a helpless glance at Gob, who spread his hands and made an I can't do anything face.

Charon noticed the exchange and laughed, rasping, "C'mon vault kid, celebration time."

Lee spent most of the night delaying when it was his turn to take a drink, and then making faces at the horrible taste. Charon laughed at him and continued drinking the whiskey like it was water.

"How can you stand this stuff?" Lee asked, after watching Charon down another mouthful. The bottle was almost gone, and Lee was feeling dizzy and silly, even though he'd only drank less than a quarter of it.

"Practice," Charon growled, looking slightly tipsy himself. He tilted the bottle back and drank off the rest of it. They were still standing at the bar. Lee had been talking to Gob and greeting the people he knew; Andy and Lucy had come by, and oddly enough, Moira had made an appearance. Nova was running around the back room, fixing food and cleaning, and Lee even caught a glimpse of Silver helping her out. _Wow, she came back._ The crowd was dying down by now, it was late.

"Hope it was good practice, now you gotta get us home." _Don't think I'm drunk, but... yeah unstable._ He stood back from the bar and wavered a little, colors seeming over-bright and blurry. _Okay, maybe drunk._ They said goodnight to Gob as he wiped down the bar, waving at them. The night air was cold and damp, blowing through their hair and chilling their skin. Lee stumbled and put a hand on Charon's shoulder, giggling. It occurred to him dimly that his cheeks were burning again. Charon had put an arm around Lee's waist to keep him from falling on his ass as they walked back, down stairs and up ramps.

Lee fumbled with his key, unlocked the door, and let it swing open. The house was only lit by a lamp upstairs; deep shadows covered the floors and walls. They stepped in, both feeling the weird, almost electric feeling of entering a quiet house after being away with noise and light and excitement. "Bed?" Lee asked, sweeping the door closed. He wasn't sleepy, but lying down sounded nice. _Or something._ Charon swept his hand out, making an after you gesture.

"Catch me if I fall, okay," Lee muttered, climbing the stairs first. He laughed as he felt a warm palm press against his upper back in preparation for the tumble.

"Oh yeah, my bed's kind of weird. Didn't really think about it but I guess it'll work out, since you're so tall." He kicked his boots off and pulled the bedroom door open. Turning around, he fell back and flopped on the triple layer of blanket-covered mattresses stretching wall-to-wall. "Took a lot of scavving and dragging, but pretty good, huh?" He folded his arms behind his head and grinned up at Charon, who was leaning in the doorway looking at him dubiously. Lee's grin turned impish, "No armor allowed though." It was hard to tell in the darkness, but it looked like Charon was rolling his eyes as hard as he could.

_Oh, dang._ Charon started unbuckling his chest plates and let them drop to the floor with a thunk. He unbuttoned the jacket part of the armor and shrugged it off. The shirt came next, lingering just a little longer than he had to when drawing it over his head. Dragging his fingers down his torso, clearly enjoying this way too much, he unbuckled the leg armor and let it fall, stepping out of it and standing still again. He crossed his arms, muscles bulging against his chest, and waited, smirking.

"Ugh, you're killing me," Lee murmured, voice husky.

_Hmmm, he stopped._ Lee looked up at Charon towering over him from his place near the floor. _He's... waiting for me, isn't he? Fuck it._ He stood and closed the distance between him and Charon, reaching a hand out and letting his fingertips brush down the ragged torso. A low rumble emanated from Charon's chest, but he stood perfectly still. Lee leaned forward, scalp prickling in apprehension, and kissed Charon's thin lips. The rumble rose into a growl, and Charon un-folded his arms to grab Lee, crushing their bodies together. The next minutes were a tangle of kissing lips, biting teeth, and clothes roughly pulled off and thrown on the floor. Breathing elevated, they paused when everything was gone, and silently appraised the other; standing like fighters about to attack. Lee's long, pale body, skin smooth and pale... the one flaw the large burn on his side. Charon: taller and broad, skin darker and marred by muscle and veins showing through. Then they came together again, red on white, rough on soft.

"Never met a smoothskin who liked peeling skin and radiation burns so much," his last word turned into a hitched breath as Lee bit down on his neck sharply. Lee was shoved backwards, his knees catching on the edge of the bed and the rest of him toppling over, landing with a grunt. Charon jumped on him, hanging inches over his face, looking down with his unsettling blue eyes.

"Hey, your burns are pretty hot," Lee said, lifting his head to capture Charon's lips in another kiss. He let a hand drift downward, palm sliding across Charon's erection; fingertips stroking the twitching skin. The ghoul froze and hissed in a breath. "Bothered?" Lee smirked up at Charon.

"It's... been a while," he admitted, breathing raggedly.

Lee pinched a nipple, laughing at the jerk of Charon's body. "Payback." He rested his forehead at the junction of Charon's neck and shoulder, nibbling and sucking his skin. "For all your teasing," he breathed in Charon's ear. Charon rubbed against him and grunted.

"Enough fucking around," His voice had dropped and his eyes had a menacing glint to them. Lee realized that Charon's skin had gone from hot to burning. _How can he live like that, he's like a furnace. _

Charon sat back, leaning on his haunches. Lee gazed at him kneeling between his stretched-out legs. _Terrible... and bewitching. He's a perfect shape in a decayed case._ The duality was enthralling. Charon raised a torn finger to his mouth, coating it in saliva. His other hand grabbed Lee's hip and roughly brought it up over his knee, suspending his lower half in the air.

"Relax," he murmured as he pressed the wet digit into Lee.

"Hngh!" A breathy cry came from Lee; he was burning from the heat of Charon's skin and a little from the pain. His breathing turned heavy as Charon worked in and out, slowly acclimatizing to the feeling. A haze was filling his mind; he brought a hand down and lazily stroked himself, rolling his hips in time with Charon's hand. The ghoul added another finger, twisting and stretching slowly. Lee shuddered at the feeling; his body felt warm all over, but blazing and tingling at the point of contact between them. "Come on," he grated out, impatient.

Charon withdrew his fingers and spat into the palm of his hand; grabbing his cock and stroking it to lubricate it somewhat. He lined himself up with Lee's entrance and very slowly pushed himself in. Lee's nerves sang and he gasped at the feel of Charon roughly grasping both his hips and starting to pick up the pace. He could hear Charon bark out a breath as he fully sheathed himself, then a heavier, more regular breathing as he started to fuck him in earnest. The friction built up between them, Charon thrusting rhythmically and Lee with one hand thrown back and the other sliding up and down his own cock.

Charon leaned down over him, pushing his legs back toward his chest. He bit Lee's jaw and grunted at the jerk his body gave. Lee snapped his head back around and clamped his teeth onto Charon's lip, biting and kissing. He could feel himself starting to let go, blood surging through his body, a tingling pulse in his lower half, a hum starting up in his throat. Charon sensed the change and sped up, pumping faster. They came a few seconds later, spasming together in the dark room. Lee cried out, feeling the huge build-up release and fade away. Charon cursed quietly, hands digging savagely into Lee's skin.

Lee sighed, letting his tense body relax and flop back onto the bed. Charon extricated himself from the sweaty tangle of legs and rolled over next to Lee. They both lay in the dark, letting their breathing get back to normal and relaxing into the thick layer of blankets. Lee flopped a hand over and bumped Charon in the bicep. "Sleeping, eh?"

He got a pinch in the side as a reward. "I haven't done that in years, gimme a break." He dragged Lee closer to him and quickly fell asleep; one arm draped around the human and his face laying against the soft skin at the base of Lee's neck.


	17. The Storm

They stayed in Megaton for a few days. Sitting on the roof trying to hold shouting matches with Stockholm. Charon trying to casually inch over to stand next to the un-detonated nuke when they stopped by the Brass Lantern. Watching holotapes at night. One of them was an old gangster film; Lee had poked Charon when an actor with almost the same accent as him had spoken. One of the main guys' bodyguards. 'Ey boss, I don't like the looka dat guy.' Charon had smiled distractedly and watched the movie with a wistful concentration, flickering light playing over his face. Helping Walter with his repair work and dodging his swats when Lee tried to crack wise at him. Dropping into Moira's store to trade and say hello. Lee realized that of all the people he'd met so far, Moira and Charon were the only two to make the connection between the vault and his odd nickname. Everyone else had taken the name Mouse as a matter of course.

Lee started getting restless as the days went by. _A week. That's all it takes and then I go crazy._ He paced the house when at home, flipping through books without really reading anything and seemed tense and high-strung when he walked the city. His constant fidgeting eventually got to Charon, who had enough patience for several people. After one instance of Lee sitting on the floor clicking the magazine of his rifle in and out, over and over, Charon finally lunged at him, knocking him flat on his back. He landed with a thump, and Charon loomed over him, plucking the magazine out of his hand.

"Let's go somewhere. You're driving me batshit."

So they went.

Lee re-packed his bag, cleaned and repaired their guns, and they set off out the massive gates of Megaton. _Well. Now where._ It's fine to go exploring but... where to.

"Welp, the big decision. Make sure I don't crash into Deputy Weld, please." He closed his eyes and spun in a circle. Charon looked at him, startled. Lee slowed to a stop and pointed a finger straight out, opening his eyes.

"Northwest." He smiled and glanced up at Charon, "Let's go."

They headed out, passing through Springvale and past the hilly entrance of Vault 101. Lee peered up the path toward the wooden door that marked the entrance. "That's where my vault is. It looks so tiny from out here, y'know." Charon glanced at it, unsure of what to say. Lee's face was cloudy and he looked contemplative.

They kept going, walking past huge rocks embedded in the ground, old burnt trees, flat stretches of scrubby grass. It was quiet, the only sound was the gritting of their boots in the dirt. A faint wind was blowing, whistling through the dead vegetation and brushing their hair back. Beside him, Charon looked like he could walk forever; face set, arms swinging freely, and the ever-present shotgun on his back. Lee set his feet on auto-pilot and fell into thought.

The vault was always there in the back of his mind, waiting for a reason to spring to the front and yammer about his old life. The kids he had grown up with. Prim, proper Amata... struggling under the shadow of her father, but always there ready to listen or help. Butch constantly preening and posturing, but insecure on the inside. Paul, a surprisingly sweet guy who, sadly, got captured by Butch's charisma and the appeal of being in his "gang". Wally and Susie, a terror together when they were younger, but as they grew up they also grew apart. Wally went with Butch and Paul to make the Tunnel Snakes; a group whose sole purpose seemed to be sneering and acting like snots to everyone. Wally's sister Susie hung around the other girls of the vault, becoming a giggling teenager who spent more time thinking about hair and makeup than anything else. Lee smiled at that. He'd always seen a strong resemblance between the siblings and even when she started trying to look more womanly, he could still see a lot of her brother in her face. It would send him into gales of laughter thinking of Wally with long hair and lipstick. Susie never asked about his random laughing fits, and Lee never explained what they were about.

_And Jonas._ Lee's mirth subsided as he thought of his dad's lab assistant. Lee had found him dead in his office the day the vault had opened, killed by security. His eyes closed, mouth no longer smiling, glasses cracked and shining in the bright vault light. He'd had a holotape with him, a message from James to Lee, and wrapped around it was a hastily scribbled note. It had read_: I was caught, but your old man made it out. I hope you find him out there and help him finish what he started. I'm sorry I couldn't make it to see you grow up. I'll miss you. Take care, kiddo._ Lee clenched his fists at the memory and tried to keep his tears back. He blinked and looked at the sky. That had been bad, seeing him there. His father was missing and half the vault was out for his blood, but that had seemed like an offence. Jonas was the kindest person he knew... always there to talk to when his dad was too busy with work. He would always draw up an extra chair and let Lee sit with him when he was working on something; quietly explaining his process and results. He was probably the closest thing to a best friend he'd had then. Lee knew he didn't really have a natural aptitude for it, but Jonas always made medicine seem so noble and interesting. He sighed quietly, part from frustration and part from regret.

Lee slowly realized that the atmosphere had changed. He'd chalked up the uncomfortable feel of the past few minutes to his reminiscing, but now he saw that the sun was overcast and the air had a strange charged quality. Charon grumbled deep in his chest, sounding anxious and slowed his pace.

"Uhh... something feels off. What's..." Lee trailed off, trying to really take in his surroundings. The air had turned completely still and felt heavy. The sky was slowly darkening into an ugly greyish yellow color and thick clouds could be seen on the horizon. There was a flash as the sky brightened for a split second in the distance. "...Charon," he said, voice rising nervously. They stopped.

"I don't think we should be outside for this." _Outside?_ Lee looked up at the sky again. Charon turned and looked behind them. "We passed a small cliff back there with a door in it, we might want to-" A rumbling noise was building in the air around them. After a moment it swelled and erupted into a thunderous cracking sound that seemed to come from every direction. Lee clamped his hand down on Charon's arm, body wired and face distraught. His eyes darted everywhere, but there was no visible cause for the huge noise, just the clouds rolling slowly towards them. A faint breeze had started up and Charon's arm pulled him backwards as he began moving.

"Come on, come on!" He sounded worried now, and Lee followed, the anxiety spreading to him. They pelted back the way they came, Lee scared because he didn't know what was going on, and Charon because he did.

"Charon! What is it?" Lee yelled as they scrambled around rocks in their path and leaped over dips in the earth. The cliff they were running at was visible now, a leaning chain link fence around one side of it. Another loud crash echoed across the sky.

"Rain!" he shouted back, "This isn't good."

_Rain? So the noise was thunder._ "Isn't that just water?" He'd seen plenty of videos with rain in them at some point, and had studied weather effects but... _No, that's right._ There had been no rain or snow or anything that he'd actually seen while outside the vault.

"It used to be. C'mon, before it starts." They slid down the hill and wheeled around toward the wooden shack door set into the rock. It opened easily and they jumped inside. They stood a few steps back from the open door, and caught their breath as the wind moaned around the rocks and gate outside. Lee watched the rectangle of light continue to darken, and then it began. Drops of dark liquid began to hit the ground. Not much at first, but it increased until the world was filled with the quiet roar of water. He peered around the doorframe, watching the rain pound into the earth and cover the rocks with a dirty film. He glanced back at Charon.

"Is it supposed to be black? It's not, is it?"

Charon shook his head, watching the rain fall. "No, this is what it's looked like since the war." His face stayed calm but his voice grated with annoyance. "It's black from the smoke and char from the fires that started after the explosions. From cities, forests, everything. It's dirty, acidic, and probably still very radioactive." He crouched and sat against the wall of the cave they were in. "It burns when it touches your skin, and if you're not a ghoul or a mutant, you'll get very sick very quickly from the amount of radiation in it. Good thing it almost never happens."

Lee tore his eyes away from the door and joined Charon on the floor. "So we're stuck here until it's done, right? How long do you think it'll last?"

"I do not know. A few minutes, an hour, all day." He smirked at Lee's look of alarm. "Probably only an hour or two. The world is past the time of drawn out storms."

Lee lay back against the curve of the cave wall and closed his eyes. Even if the rain was radioactive dirt acid, the sound was nice. _Well, I can either take a nap, or fiddle with something 'til Charon loses it again... ...or see where we are, I guess._ He opened his eyes and studied the surrounding area. The door in the wall was still propped open, and let in a very dim light from the now orange sky. The doorway was slightly raised from the ground outside, so no water was getting in, but it had started to pool into murky black puddles in the dirt out there. Some old metal drums littered the floor, and the ceiling was just rock, a rounded ceiling. The floor they were on sloped downwards and back into the darkness. He stared into the dark... _if it was still sunny outside I could probably see a lot more..._ Feeling slightly creeped out at the unknown area yawning out next to them, he turned to Charon.

"I'm gonna go check out the rest of the cave."

Charon made a short hmph of acknowledgement, not moving at all. Lee squinted at him. Legs stretched out, arms crossed, and head tilted back leaning against the wall. His eyes were shut and he looked supremely relaxed; could've been asleep. Lee crawled over his legs and sank into a crouch in front of the ghoul, their faces a few inches apart. "Aren't you curious what's back there?" he asked, excitement dancing in his eyes. A tiny slit of one blue eye appeared and vanished again, lips quirking up at the corners.

"Not as much as you are, apparently," he mumbled. "Go ahead."

Lee grinned and inched closer. The bridge of his nose drifted over Charon's jawline and he whispered against his neck, "Charon what if there's _monsters_? Aren't you going to protect me?"

An exasperated sigh. "There's nothing alive in here."

"How do you know?"

"Doesn't smell like anything living." He drew in a breath. "Just rocks and... maybe metal and electronics further in."

"Okay what if there's robots-" Before he could finish his sentence, Charon grabbed him, pulling an ankle upwards and shoving a shoulder back so that Lee quickly found himself staring at the cave ceiling. The rest of his question turned into a strangled *gack*. The ghoul's face loomed over his, an eyebrow sardonically raised and two massive arms planted by either side of his chest.

"Are you really going to sit here the entire time and ask me inane questions about this chunk of dirt we're sitting in?"

"Okay! Okay," Charon leaned back and let Lee scramble up. "I'll go look by myself. And get eaten… by ghosts."

Charon leaned back against the wall again and waved a dismissive hand at him. Lee sniffed and walked toward the unexplored part of the cave.

It wasn't completely dark. There was only barely enough light to keep from tripping over the chunks of rock littering the floor and to follow the slight curvature of the cave. He could see a long crate of something standing on the floor, and a... _hey, a light._ A tiny amber light, pulsing and illuminating what looked like a tilted board. He approached the table and could sense he had finally hit the end of the tunnel. _Whoa. Whoa whoa whoa._ His eyes re-fixed on the board, which he could now see was actually a control panel covered with levers and buttons. A cold chill ran down his back. _I know what this is, I've seen it before. Twice._ He stuck a hand out past the panel and touched the wall behind it. Smooth rock... and then a sharp dip and a flat stretch of metal. He traced the angular border of the groove and shouted back to Charon.

He could hear the vague surprise in Charon's voice as he walked up and saw the back wall. "What is this?"

Lee felt his emotions clash around: fear, excitement, bewilderment. He knew the answer would be a yes, but he wanted to hear it from Charon, who could actually see what was in front of them.

"Charon, what's in the middle of this big metal thing? Is there a number?" he asked, voice trembling.

"Yeah. 106."


	18. Into the Blue

His thoughts raced and jumbled together. _Another vault. I've seen one besides 101, but this is crazy._ He paced in front of the massive door, not seeing it in the dark, but feeling its huge presence. Finding his dad in 112 was incredible, seeing an entirely new vault, hidden from the world. But this was more shocking, they'd stumbled onto it out of nowhere. Totally unexpected.

He stopped and swung toward Charon, a dim outline standing in the dark. "It's a vault," he said, finally answering Charon's query, and turned back toward the panel reaching for the lever that would make the huge machinery start up and open the door.

His hand suddenly stopped moving. "Wait." Charon had grabbed his wrist, not exerting force but also not letting him move. Lee looked up, questioning.

"We have no idea what's in there."

Confusion. "What's in there? It's a vault, what would be in there? Just people, right?"

Charon let go, but didn't step away. The nearly manic air of excitement coming from Lee was making him nervous. "It might be, or it might be completely flooded with radiation, or full of something that likes living in a dark cave. And if it is people, what kind?" Lee, barely listening, was edging closer to the control panel, still twitchy and worked up. Charon scowled and stepped smoothly into Lee, pressing a hand against his chest and pinning him easily against the cog-shaped door. The glow from the board played on Charon's face, further deepening the crags and ridges in his skin.

Charon growled and stepped close to him. "Just be careful. Don't rush in blindly." He looked at Lee again, carefully. Breathing rapid, skin flushed, eyes staring intently. _Oh come on, of all the..._ He leaned in closer, faces barely an inch apart.

"What?" he breathed, dropping his voice to a low snarl and inwardly laughing at the state of agitation Lee was in.

Lee closed his eyes and sagged against the door and the hand still holding him there. _Damn him and his sexy… scariness and freakish strength._ "Uhhg stop it. I'll be careful, okay? No rushing." He swallowed loudly. "This has gotta be the weirdest place..." he stopped, and furrowed his eyebrows. _Enough._

The hand and body withdrew. Lee could hear the smile in Charon's voice. "What's wrong? Are you..."

"No, I am NOT!" Lee interrupted, and stomped over to the control pad. _Baaaah._ He could hear Charon chuckling under his breath behind him. He wheeled around and poked a finger at Charon. "Come on, be serious, let's see if this thing even opens." _Might be locked, who knows._

"Sure," he unslung his shotgun and stood back a ways from the door. The rain was still pouring outside, and by now Charon was also a little curious about what the vault would be like. Lee glanced over his shoulder at him.

"Here goes." He pulled the lever.

Immediately a harsh siren started blaring from somewhere inside the vault. Metal groaned and clanked, and after a brief silence, the massive blast door squealed inwards and rolled aside. A blast of cold, ancient-smelling air rushed out. The immediate interior was rusted and pretty destroyed looking; Lee looked around at the room, shocked. _Barely any air filtration, there's no heat, and it looks like shit. What the hell..._ Lee glanced up at Charon, suddenly quite a bit less sure of himself. Charon shrugged and walked in, stepping over the deep grooves in the threshold where the door had been. _This place has been broken down for a really long time._

"You knew. How?" His voice was small as he followed the ghoul inside, staring around him at the familiar architecture.

"I've heard things. Stories." He nudged a box over with his boot then drifted over to examine a giant workstation near the entrance rails.

"Well?" Lee prompted, trying to contain his impatience.

"People discover them every once in a while and see weird stuff there. Vaults full of glowing feral ghouls..." he made a face at that, but continued. "...vaults packed with skeletons, way too many for how much living space there was. Vaults that were still sealed, but flooded, or filled with people who had gone completely insane." Charon looked over at Lee, who had stopped moving and looked blankly lost in thought. "You were so excited, I didn't think you'd believe me if you didn't see it. This place looks like it's probably empty. Sorry."

Lee gave a shuddering sigh. "I had no idea." He scuffed the floor with his boot. "Kinda wanna look around still, if it's empty. Memories, y'know." Charon nodded and they went deeper in, Lee passing a hand over the door panel. The hissing clunk was a familiar noise, and Lee smiled as it clicked into the recess in the wall.

Everything was rusted, or broken, or knocked over. As they headed lower, the air got even colder. "It's pretty chilly down here, you gonna be okay?" Lee asked, wondering about his odd body temperature.

His intent must have been at least a little clear, because Charon answered, "Fine, I'm not a lizard." He rolled his shoulders and continued looking around the hallway they were in.

"Something wrong?" The way Charon kept tilting his head and glancing around was weirding Lee out.

"Do you... smell anything?"

Lee took a deep breath. "Nnnno. Smells like metal. Dirt. Why?"

Charon hmphed. "Nothing, maybe I'm imagining it. Keeps coming and going anyway." He made a flapping gesture with his hand, _go on_.

They came to a single room at the end of the hall. The door shushed open and then the world went blue. _Blue?_ Lee whirled around staring at everything. The place was cast in a hazy blue-ish purple tint, the surfaces of the room seemed... cleaner? _How is that possible?_ But worst of all, Charon was no longer standing next to him. He wasn't anywhere in sight. _Uhhh._ He stared into the hallway, eyes flicking over every surface. It was straight, no bends to hide behind. There was no way Charon had time to sprint to the end and back up the stairs. And besides that, why would he? Heart pounding, Lee turned back to the room and looked around. Electricity seemed to arc up his back. Someone was there. Hunched over a desk in the far corner. White coat and short dark hair. Lee felt like he was floating as he walked closer to the person. The man. Whoever it was noticed he was there. The head slowly turned to look at him approaching. An ear, one cheek, a rim of glasses. Lee stopped cold.

"Jonas?" he said in a breathless whisper. As soon as the word was out of his mouth the room popped back to what it had originally looked like. Dark, overturned chairs, certainly no one sitting at the drunkenly leaning desk in the corner. A man who was supposed to be dead. _What the fuck just happened?_ A cold sweat broke out on his skin. He looked at the desk where Jonas had been. Waved his hand through the space above the chair. Nothing. No sign that anyone had sat there for years. _Okay. So I'm seeing... ghosts. Or something. Totally normal. _

He turned back to the open door. _Where the hell is Charon? Did he see something too?_ Walking through the empty halls alone was nerve wracking. Lee kept glancing over his shoulder, certain that someone would be there each time. He tried to squash the idea, but panic kept rising through him in sour bubbles. He didn't want to draw attention to himself, in the case that this place wasn't empty, but it couldn't be helped. Charon was nowhere to be found and vaults were enormously extensive. He no longer cared about exploring this place, it had shot well over the acceptable creepy level. _I just want to find Charon and get out. Wait for the rain to stop in that tiny cave and be bored together. This was stupid._

He called out "Charon." in a scratchy voice barely above a whisper. No response, of course. No one could hear that. He felt terrified of raising his voice any further, this place was feeling more and more like a tomb.

"Charon!"

Lee winced at the sharp noise echoing away. But... there. A footstep nearby. Lee stepped forward, ready to greet Charon. But then another footstep. A dragging footstep and a mumble. _That isn't Charon's voice._ The hair on the back of Lee's neck rose in thick hackles. _Someone else there's someone here what do I do who is it!_ The thing rounded the corner.

The first thing he noticed was the vault suit. Torn and faded, but still easily recognizable as the uniform of a resident of 106. A pipe dangled from one hand and the face above everything was blank and empty of any kind of intelligence. _He's completely crazy._ The man took another shuffling step forward, eyes lighting at the sight of the intruder. He raised his weapon and charged at Lee. Still in a state of hyper-aware terror, Lee dodged the chunk of metal whistling toward his face and grabbed the man's wrist. Twisting as he grabbed, the man let out a squawk and dropped the pipe. Lee spun him around and aimed one solid punch right at the man's chin. He staggered and tumbled backwards onto the floor, eyes rolling back and closing. Panting, Lee looked at him lying there. A blink, and the blue haze was back_. It's Butch_. Leather jacket and greased hair, sneering lips. _Why is... no. No, it's not. _He shook his head and pinched his arm. _This isn't real. It isn't possible at all. _ Lee grabbed Butch/the crazy guy's leg and dragged him into a nearby room. _I'm hallucinating._ Tears were slowly leaking out of Lee's eyes. _This place is fucked up, we need to get out _right now_._ He left the room and switched the door override to off, effectively locking it.

He set off again to look for Charon, quietly this time. The halls stretched out endlessly, lined with rooms that appeared to be personal living spaces. _Probably the best place for more vault people to be. Ugh. _But this was also the most likely direction Charon had gone. Lee strained his ears for any sort of noise. He could hear a faint hissing of air from a vent overhead... was that a faint moan? The voice was deep enough to be Charon, but Lee stayed cautious. _No more crazies running around corners please._ There was an open door, among all the closed ones. Lee stepped as silently as he could, carefully placing his feet, and peeked around the doorframe.

_Oh, god._

The vault was a mess in general, but this tiny chamber had been absolutely wrecked. Every piece of furniture had been dented and overturned, and the rusted walls were soaked with what looked like blood. Crazy splashes and drips were everywhere, and there was the source: the mangled bodies of three unlucky vault 106ers. It looked like someone had grabbed them by the arms or legs and flung them around the room, ending the trip with a shotgun blast to the head or gut. The moan again. A shaky breath. Lee looked around, a horrified look on his face. Slumped in the corner was Charon. Face and torso spattered with blood, eyes closed, gun kicked away. He was shivering, arms wrapped around his legs.

"Charon," Lee whispered, afraid, but still walking toward the ghoul collapsed in the corner. No response. No suggestion that he'd heard. He kneeled and put out a hand, reaching for Charon's shoulder.

As soon as his fingers brushed the leather pauldron, Charon's body jerked to life and his eyes shot open. His hand, tacky with blood that had dried there, reached out and closed around Lee's neck. Lee looked into Charon's face. There was no recognition, just fury. Charon stood, dragging Lee up with him, and started to squeeze. Lee grabbed the ghoul's forearm and weakly scrabbled at it; the world starting to darken and swim.

"Let go... the fuck're you doing?" he wheezed out. Nothing. No answer. No change in expression. Lee's vision had narrowed down to a point. _I don't know what he's seeing right now but he's going to kill me. Shit. Last hope._ He summoned all his remaining strength and hoarsely shouted:

"Charon! This is an order! STOP!"

The hand stilled... relaxed. Dropped away. Some kind of awareness came back to his eyes. Lee staggered away, gingerly rubbing his throat and retching.

"The doctors..." Charon's voice. It was him, but he sounded far away. Lee shivered at the unnatural quality of his words. _Like he's talking in his sleep._ He was standing, looking at the broken bodies crumpled on the floor. "I killed them. Before they could... could." He shook his head. "No. You..." he raised his eyes to Lee. "You ordered me. This isn't the lab. The commonwealth. Where am I? We. Where are we?"

"This is a vault, Charon. We need to leave. Something in here is making us see things."

Charon shook his head, trying to clear it. "Everything is blue. And you..." His eyes darkened again, eyes narrowing to slits. "You're one of them." He turned his head to look at his gun on the floor, next to Lee's foot.

_Christ, he almost came back._ Without stopping to think, Lee nudged his toe under the gun stock and flipped it up, neatly catching it in one hand, and then turned and bolted for the door. _One more race for my life. It's this place that's making us crazy, need to get out. _Charon roared wordlessly behind him as they sprinted up the hallway. The gun was heavy and cumbersome to hold, but his familiarity with vault structure and relative clearheadedness let Lee take a small lead, dodging obstacles and bounding up the stairs in threes. They passed a large wall vent and the world popped blue again. Lee looked ahead. It looked like a group of vault security, faces twisted with anger and brandishing pistols at him. Lee winced, hoping there wasn't a real life analogue behind these visions. He ran straight at them... and passed through with no resistance. _Phew._

_This is it, the stairwell to the entrance. _A stitch had sunk into his side, burning and turning his breath ragged. _So close._ He glanced backwards over his shoulder to see Charon, still looking quite insane, eyes glowing like lamps. _Fuck. Just get out to the cave. If I have to knock him out I could try, but I don't want to. He'll probably break me in half anyway. Shit. Go go go! _

He leapt over the grooved threshold of the vault door, dodging the opening mechanism and continuing up the dirt slope. Fresh air swept in from the still-open door, damp and cool from the earlier rain. Lee stopped at the door, letting the borrowed gun drop onto the dirt. _This is it._ He turned around.

Charon had stopped running back near the blast door. He stood, shoulders hunched and arms dangling, backlit by the glow of emergency lights in the vault behind him. He looked up at Lee staring back at him at the other end of the cave, and sank down to his knees, head drooping forward.

_We're out. He looks... I dunno how he looks._ Lee walked back and stood in front of Charon, looking at his slumped shoulders and the sparse locks of red hair falling forward over his bowed head. Charon sat back and raised his head. He was himself again, Lee could see with relief. The distant stare was gone, and the face had relaxed back into its normal expression instead of the rabid insanity that had been there only minutes ago. And... a shiny trail down one cheek.

"Charon?"

"Lee." His voice was huskier than usual, and sounded choked. "I'm sorry."

Lee dropped down in front of Charon and grabbed him in an embrace. Charon stayed unresponsive for a moment, and then returned the gesture; hands drifting upwards and clinging weakly to Lee's back. Blood from his hands left a rust-colored trail on Lee's shirt. They stayed there for a while, letting the adrenaline fade and thoughts collect themselves.

Lee was first to break the silence. He leaned back on his heels. "What did you see in there?" he asked, not really wanting to hear what would cause him to rip three people apart, but still curious_. I saw people from my past, he must've also. But I've never been through anything really bad... he..._

Charon's face paled. His eyes shut and he shook his head. "The laboratory where the mind control experiments were being done. The people running it. I don't know if I want to remember it again." He ran a hand over his forehead, sweeping his hair away then wiping the tears from his cheeks. "Whatever I saw, there was no excuse for attacking you. I violated my contract. You may terminate me, if you wish."

Lee goggled at him. "What? No! It's okay. Neck's a little sore but I'll get over it. Charon, it's fine. You're... really great and I don't want to fire you." He took one of Charon's hands. "Okay? You weren't yourself."

Eventually, Charon nodded. "If you wish." He reached up with the unoccupied hand and touched the rising bruises around Lee's neck; red finger-shaped patches were lined up on the side of his neck and spread toward the ear. "That looks like it hurts."

Lee coughed and smiled. "Yeah, you've got a hell of a grip." He squeezed the hand and stood up, pulling Charon with him. "I drag us into a fucked up hallucination vault because I'm curious and my bodyguard nearly strangles me for it." Charon barked out a laugh. "Let's go, no more vaults. Why can't we find a cave full of Nuka-Cola and holotapes instead, huh."

Charon raised the hand he was still holding and gently brushed his lips over the knuckles. _The first contract owner I've had in decades that I don't despise and I get drugged and nearly kill him. But he's fine with it. Joking about it. He must be an idiot or... well. Actually like me._ He grinned and nudged Lee with his shoulder as they walked back out.

"Don't throw my gun on the floor, you waster. That thing's worth more than you are."

Lee smirked and snatched the shotgun on his way out into the gloom, racing away with it held high over his head, laughing like a loon. Charon sighed and chased after him.

* * *

Thanks for reading! If you liked this story and want more of the same but with different crap happening, check out the currently in-progress Finding Someone part 2. It's funny, the entirety of this story originally was going to be pretty much just what happens in chapter 4, and now it's turned into this long-winded monstrosity. Stupid, sexy Charon.

(And also if you liked this one, a review wouldn't go amiss, they always make me happy.)


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